Extraction
by cool-chick-rae
Summary: It's been two months since the Fischer job, when Arthur suddenly shows up at Ariadne's school. Arthur tells her that he doesn't believe Cobb ever made it home to his kids. So, it is up to Arthur to get the team back together to help find Cobb.
1. Chapter 1: Old Friends

**Extraction**

**Chapter 1: Old Friends**

**Note: I do not own Inception. **

Ariadne stepped back as she examined her latest creation. The maze was brilliant, complex; yet, a simplistic landscape like a uniform suburban neighbourhood could easily be placed atop her creation. This was perfect, as the maze could then be re-used on numerous jobs, because who hadn't either lived in, or travelled through, a cookie-cutter neighbourhood - the kind where the houses all looked the same and were far too big for the tiny plot of land they were built upon. Ariadne took another step back and grinned. _Cobb would have loved this_, she thought to herself.

"Class ended hours ago you know," came a female voice from the back of the classroom. Ariadne jumped in surprise and then grinned when she realized the voice belonged to a good friend of hers.

"Hey Sara. Yeah, but Professor Miles let's me use his classroom after hours," Ariadne explained, as she ran a hand over her disgruntled hair to smooth it.

"I thought he used his classroom as his office though?" Sara asked as she skipped down the stairs two at a time to the front of the room where Ariadne stood.

"Mostly yeah, but I'm pretty quiet and he likes to help me on my extra-curricular projects."

"Like extra-credit?" Sara had now reached the front of the room and ran a finger over Ariadne's creation.

"No, just stuff I like to do for fun," Ariadne corrected looking a little sheepish.

"I see. Well most people consider shopping fun, or going for coffee fun. Not gluing together old toothpaste boxes to make little mazes for Lego people," Sara chided.

"Oh! Right, we were supposed to meet for coffee!" Ariadne exclaimed as she looked at her watch.

"Yeah, like 45 minutes ago," Sara grumbled as she crossed her arms.

"I just got caught up in this," Ariadne indicated her maze, "but I'm done now. Do you still have time for coffee?" Ariadne asked trying to sound as apologetic as she could.

"Lucky for you, my social life at the moment consists of only you and my smelly old thesis supervisor."

"Things not going too well with your thesis?" Ariadne asked as she began to shove her buildings materials into her already full backpack.

"Oh, it's just getting down to crunch time. My supervisor would have liked me to defend this spring, but that is totally not happening. So, there's been a little tension lately."

"I'm sorry." Ariadne said.

"It's ok. I'll plough through, and once this semester is over I'm sure my supervisor and I will be less stressed can put more focus and effort on my thesis" Sara said confidently. "Oh, and before I forget!" She exclaimed, while throwing her backpack to the ground and unzipping it. "Ta da!" she sang as she thrust an old and slightly crushed Crest toothpaste box in Ariadne's direction.

Ariadne grinned, "Oh Sara you shouldn't have."

"I know, I know. I'm too good to you. But seriously I have all kinds of other things you can use to build more of your Lego towns."

"That's great! Let's just stow all this stuff under Professor Miles' desk, while we go for that coffee," Ariadne finally suggested as she tried, in futile, to zip her backpack up.

"I don't suppose you could postpone that coffee break for a bit longer, could you?" asked a rather familiar masculine voice.

Ariadne's eyes shot to the back of the room where Sara had called out to her only minutes before.

"Arthur?" Ariadne asked in disbelief, as she quickly jumped to her feet, ignoring her bag. Arthur just grinned as he descended the stairs to where Ariadne and Sara stood.

"I'm sorry to barge in unannounced, but I was in the area so I figured I would just drop in and deliver the news to you in person," he explained.

"What news?" Ariadne asked.

"Another job opportunity has come up and I'm in need of an architect," Arthur explained.

"Oh, this guy is from that work placement thing you did a couple of months ago, right?" Sara asked Ariadne.

"Yes, sorry. I'm Arthur Smith," Arthur apologized as he extended his hand to Sara who grinned like a love struck schoolgirl.

"Nice to meet you. I'm –"

"I'll have to catch up with you later Sara," Ariadne said cutting her friend off. Sara looked slightly put off. So, Ariadne put on a sheepish grin trying to smooth things over. "Look, you know how tight money's been for me lately. Top-notch Paris Architectural schools do not come cheap and I could really use this job. I promise I will call you tomorrow."

Sara looked from Ariadne to Arthur before finally grinning. "Oh, you could really use this job, hmm. Couldn't we all," she mused; her suggestive tone hinting that she assumed what Arthur was offering was anything, but another job opportunity.

_God, she probably thinks he's here for some kind of one-night stand_ Ariadne thought her face reddening in the process.

"Well Mr. Smith, if you have any use for a stressed out History grad student be sure to get my number from Ariadne."

"I will," Arthur said seriously. However, it was unclear whether he had completely missed the suggestiveness in Sara's tone or was choosing to merely ignore it.

"I'll call you," Ariadne promised Sara as she collected as many of her supplies as she could.

"Here, let me help you," Arthur offered as he reached for Ariadne's newest maze.

"Thanks."

"See ya," Sara called as the two left the classroom.

**Note: Reviews appreciated.**


	2. Chapter 2: Missing

**Extraction**

**Chapter 2: Missing**

**Note: I do not own Inception and thank you to those who took the time to review my last chapter.**

"This maze of yours is brilliant by the way," Arthur commented as he continued to examine Ariadne's latest creation, as they walked the short distance to Ariadne's boarding house.

Ariadne re-positioned her backpack full of supplies, "thanks. Ever since the Fischer job, I've found myself spending all my free time making mazes and researching paradoxes."

"Yeah, it can be addictive," Arthur agreed. "Though, I must admit your building materials are a little . . ." he trailed off, running a finger over one of the old toothpaste boxes that made up a wall of the maze.

"Thrifty?" she asked grinning.

"I was going to say primitive, but thrifty is good too."

Ariadne laughed. "Well, I wasn't lying to Sara when I said money's a little tight."

"In two months you managed to spend everything you made on the Fischer job?" Arthur asked in disbelief, his eyes widening. "Has Eames been giving you betting advice?"

Ariadne chuckled. "No, I had student loans from my undergrad degree to pay off still. Plus, there was the debt I'd already managed to accumulate working on my graduate studies, and like I said earlier, top-notch Paris schools are not cheap."

Arthur nodded in understanding.

"I also gave my parents an all expenses paid European tour vacation. I paid for them to come visit me in Paris, and now they are off in Italy or something, I think."

"That was generous of you," Arthur said, his voice full of admiration.

Ariadne nodded. "They've been really supportive of me and my schooling. I know they would have preferred me going into a more traditional 'woman's' field, like nursing, or teaching. But they've been very supportive despite their reservations."

"Well, you're lucky to have such good parents," Arthur replied wistfully. His eyes darkening slightly as he got lost in his own thoughts.

Ariadne stayed silent. It sounded to her as though Arthur had some deep unresolved issues with his own parents, but she didn't press him for information. Maybe one day they would be close enough to divulge such secrets to one another, but today wasn't that day yet.

"This is my place," Ariadne declared as the two walked up to an old, but well maintained, building. The house, though old, was actually quite quaint. The building itself seemed to have been recently painted white as the colour was very vivid and sharp. The windows were all adorned by decorative blue wooden shutters, which looked recently painted as well. Bright green ivy could be seen climbing it's way up the west side of the building, and beginning to snake it's way to the front.

Ariadne gave a quick knock on the front door before entering the house. "Just me," she called stepping inside.

"Glad you made it home safe," an elderly woman's voice called from one of the first floor rooms on the right of the entryway.

"This place used to be a bed and breakfast, but now Mrs. Dufour rents out her rooms to students. She cooks for us and does our laundry. All for a pretty fair price, considering I know some of the boys that live here eat like elephants and have socks that smell like rotting corpses," Ariadne explained to Arthur as she led him up the very narrow old staircase to the second floor of the house.

"My room's the last door on the left. I'm just going to make a pit stop at the bathroom," Ariadne stated as she pointed in the direction Arthur should continue.

Arthur nodded and then continued on. He entered Ariadne's bedroom and was surprised by how messy the place was. It was a decent size room, with a dining room size table in the far corner, with a double bed squished in beside it.

The table was covered in drawings and architectural books. The bed was unmade and was as full of clothes as the closet. The rest of the room was littered with miniature mazes, like the one Arthur was carrying. Some were stacked with more care than others. Arthur assumed these were creations Ariadne liked while the others thrown haphazardly on the floor were failed attempts.

"Sorry, uh just put that one on the table for now," Ariadne said as she squeezed past Arthur to get into her room. She pushed some of the failed models under the table with her foot to make a path for Arthur. Then she waded through the mess to her closet where she discarded her backpack full of building supplies.

"I wouldn't have taken you to be a messy person," Arthur finally mused as he placed Ariadne's newest maze on the table.

"Yeah, I'm normally not, but school has been pretty busy lately and I have been kind of obsessed with making mazes. I'll wake up in the middle of the night with an idea and just have to start working on it before I forget. However, that does not leave a lot of time for cleaning," Ariadne explained sheepishly. Arthur watched as she tried to tuck some of the clothes on her bed under the dishevelled quilt and kick some more papers under the large wooden table. "But, so anyway you said you had a job opportunity for me?"

"Yeah, well sort of," Arthur said rather mysteriously. By this time Ariadne had finally managed to clean a big enough spot on her bed so that they could sit.

"Please, take a seat. I'm sorry I don't have much in the way of furniture here."

"It's alright," Arthur said, taking the proffered seat. "I guess first. I was wondering if Cobb has contacted you since the Fischer job?"

"No. I haven't heard from any of the team actually, until you showed up at my school today. But that was how it was supposed to be, wasn't it?"

"Professor Miles hasn't mentioned anything about Cobb?" Arthur continued not bothering to answer Ariadne's question.

"No," Ariadne said slowly, drawing the word out as though she were getting suspicious.

"Well, honestly, I actually came to Paris to speak with Stephen Miles, but I happened to run into you first," Arthur finally explained guiltily.

"Oh," Ariadne retorted, sounding a little miffed.

"Yeah," Arthur continued quickly. "It seems no one has seen Cobb since we arrived in LAX. About a month after the Fischer job everything seemed to be going well. The official announcement was made that Fischer was breaking up his father's company and no one seemed to suspect any foul play in his decision, so I decided to give Cobb a call at home. I thought I would just check in. You know, see how he and the kids were doing?"

Ariadne finally nodded in understanding, "I was actually thinking of asking Professor Miles about Cobb and the kids, but I didn't want to seem nosy so I have been skirting around the subject."

"I think that's how everyone's felt. He's been away from home for so long so no one wanted to bug him, or bring any suspicion to him and his family. But, anyway, I decided to give Cobb a call and Mrs. Miles answered, which I found odd. I would have thought she would have moved back to Paris to be with her husband by now. What with there being some tension between her and Cobb, over the death of Mal. So, I asked her if Cobb was in and she demanded to know who was calling. So I told her and I explained that I was a colleague of Cobb's. I don't know how much she knows about what Cobb does, but I figured my name might have popped up once or twice, what with Cobb and me being pretty good friends, and I know Cobb confides a lot to the professor. But she just said, that I shouldn't call again and that if I wanted to get in touch with Cobb, I should contact her husband instead."

"Well, that sounds a little odd. I mean, I haven't known Cobb for as long as you and Eames have, but I'd like to think I got to know him pretty well during our preparations for the Fischer job; and I find it very hard to believe that he wasn't there with his kids. I mean, he was adamant that the Fischer job was going to be his last. It was supposed to be his ticket home to kids and that was all he wanted," Ariadne said.

"I agree," Arthur said nodding emphatically. "But, I mean even you can see what kind of pull the dream world can have on an individual. Ever since the Fischer job you have spent all your free time creating mazes and buildings that could never be possible in reality. You create and imagine these worlds until it even begins to affect your real life."

To prove his point, Arthur grabbed a paper from off the nearby table and held it up for Ariadne to see. The architect shifted uncomfortably, the paper had a large F scrawled on the front.

"That teacher just doesn't like me!" Ariadne finally snapped trying to defend herself. "She gives anyone who doesn't agree with her every idea an F!"

"Ok, I was just trying to make a point," Arthur murmured as he gently placed the paper back on the table.

There was a pregnant pause before Ariadne finally asked, " Do you think it's possible he was there, but that he's taking precautions. I mean just in case any of his old employers come looking for him? So, he gets his mother-in-law to answer the phone and direct anyone looking for him to Professor Miles. That way people think he isn't there, and that he is still out working?"

"That thought crossed my mind, but if that were true I'm sure Cobb would have called me. I mean Mrs. Miles would have told him it was me calling and he knows I wouldn't bring any baggage to his doorstep." Arthur sounded hurt now, like he wasn't so sure anymore if Cobb did know that or not.

"So, anyway," Arthur coughed as he regained his composure. "After a couple of days with no phone call from Cobb, I tried the number Professor Miles could supposedly be reach on, but I couldn't get a hold of him. I did some digging to see if maybe Mrs. Miles had given me a fake number, but it all checked out. So, I contacted Eames and even Yusuf, on the off chance that Cobb might have contacted them. But they hadn't heard anything either."

"I tried calling you next, but the cell phone you had used during the Fischer job had been cancelled, which didn't surprise me. I knew Cobb had suggested you ditch the cell and number after we had completed the job. So, I did some research and managed to get the number for this place, but the landlady said you were at school when I called. So, frustrated, I hopped on the next available flight from L.A. to Paris."

Ariadne chuckled, "that seems extreme."

"Well, I wanted to meet with Professor Miles anyway and get some real answers and I was going a little crazy just sitting in front of my lap top uselessly," he tried to explain.

"So, you don't actually have a job for me?" Ariadne asked sounding a little disappointed.

"Well, I wasn't exactly sitting and twiddling my thumbs during the flight over here. I was doing more investigating and I honestly don't think Cobb ever made it from the airport to his home and if that's the case then I figure we may just need an architect to help us. I mean, in case we need to get into the dreams of some people who may know Cobb's whereabouts."

"Besides Cobb not calling you back and no one else having heard from Cobb, what makes you so positive that he didn't make it home?" Ariadne asked, sounding honestly curious.

"There's been no activity on his end at all, no credit card transactions, cash withdrawals, phone calls, nothing under his name or any of his aliases, at least the names I'm aware of. Besides, something just seems off to me. Cobb wouldn't just cut me out like this," Arthur snapped, slamming a fist on the table.

"We'll figure out what's going on Arthur," Ariadne said softly as she placed a hand on his shoulder and tried to give him a reassuring smile. "We saw Cobb make it through customs, so we know Saito kept his end of the bargain. Now we've just got to figure out what happened after that."

Arthur nodded glumly. Ariadne frowned, not knowing what else she could say to help cheer Arthur up. Besides, she was worried about Cobb now too. After having gone deep into the recesses of Cobb's mind Ariadne also felt like this was uncharacteristic behaviour on Cobb's part.

"Are you hungry?" Ariadne finally asked. Arthur looked a little startled at the change in the conversation.

"There's a really cool café just a few blocks away, nothing too fancy, but the price is right. Why don't we grab a bite to eat and then head back to the university? Professor Miles should be back on campus in about two hours for a night class he teaches," Ariadne explained.

Arthur grinned. "Ok, I am pretty hungry actually."

"Excellent, you are going to love this place, I promise!" Ariadne smirked as she pulled Arthur to his feet and led him out of her disaster of a room.

**Note: Please Review. Positive and/or constructive criticism is always appreciated.**


	3. Chapter 3: Lead

**Extraction**

**Chapter 3: Lead**

**Note: I do not own Inception and thanks again to all who reviewed!**

"Hey professor! Sorry to bother you. I know you have class soon," Ariadne called as she and Arthur entered the large classroom they had vacated only a few hours before.

"Ariadne, no bother at all," the professor assured his young student, as he looked up from some papers he was marking. However, when his gaze fell to the young woman's companion his face tightened just slightly.

"Hello Professor. We've met before. I'm Arthur, an associate of Dom's," Arthur quickly introduced, as he and Ariadne made their way to Professor Miles' desk at the front of the room.

"Yes, Dom's preferred point man, correct?" Stephen Miles replied rather coldly, though he did extend his hand to Arthur as the young man approached his desk.

Arthur grasped the proffered hand firmly, giving it a friendly, but solid shake. "That is correct sir. I have been trying to get a hold of you for days now."

"Yes, forgive me Arthur, I received your messages. However, I've been very busy with marking this week, and by the time it would occur to me to call you I know it would have been quite late in L.A," Professor Miles replied quickly.

Arthur frowned. It was obvious to him that Stephen Miles hadn't gotten too caught up in his marking to call him; he simply hadn't wanted to make Arthur a priority. He wondered why? Was the man covering something up about Dom, or was it simply that he had no use for any of Dom's contacts?

"I did say it was urgent," Arthur mumbled finally, an edge to his voice. Ariadne shifted her weight from one foot to the other uncomfortably as she watched the two men interact.

"Yes, well . . ." Professor Miles let the sentence hang unfinished.

Ariadne couldn't understand this, usually Professor Miles was so friendly, she wasn't used to seeing him act so cold. Though he wasn't saying anything offensive exactly, his tone and words lacked the warmth that Ariadne usually found in them.

"What did you need then?" Professor Miles finally asked when it became apparent that Arthur and Ariadne weren't going to leave. However, to indicate his disinterest the professor went back to his marking. Though both Arthur and Ariadne doubted he was actually getting any real marking done.

"I was wondering if Cobb had returned home? I know when he came to see you last he mentioned that he was taking on a job that was going to get him home to his kids," Arthur said frankly.

"Yes, I was supposed to pick Dom up at the airport a couple of months ago. A few days before he was flying out of Sydney he called giving me his flight itinerary. However, he never met up with me at LAX," the professor removed his glasses now and pushed his papers aside.

" Of course I did all the usual things," he hurriedly continued. "I checked if the flight was late. I inquired if any of the passengers hadn't made the flight, but everyone was accounted for. I have some friends that work for the airline Dom was flying on, so I even called in some favours and asked my friends to check if anyone had been taken by the authorities from the plane. I thought perhaps whoever Dom was working for didn't pull through, didn't get his charges dropped, but that turned up nothing either. So, I waited around with my wife and the kids at Dom's place for about a week, but with still no word from Dom I eventually had to get back here as classes were starting again and that was that."

"Your son-in-law just disappears and you just decide that the best thing is to just go about your business?" Ariadne snapped, as soon as the professor was done speaking, she was visibly upset now. Arthur was now the one to place a comforting hand on her shoulder, though the firmness of his grasp suggested he was upset too. However, Ariadne wasn't sure if he was upset with Professor Miles too, or with himself for not having followed up with Cobb sooner.

"Both Ariadne and myself saw Cobb make it through immigration. He picked up his luggage, the airport staff checked his papers once more and he appeared to be on his way home. Nothing seemed amiss," Arthur explained. "Until I decided to check in with him several days ago."

Professor Miles nodded. His eyes closed as he took in this new information, "Ariadne, you have to understand, ever since Dom was accused of murdering Mal. We haven't kept in the best of contact. The authorities were always checking in with us making sure Dom hadn't contacted us. So, for our own protection, as much as for his, he has kept his contact with us, and even the kids, quite limited. When Dom didn't show up at the airport I assumed something had gone wrong with the job and, like I said, I did try to investigate what had happened to him. However, when nothing turned up I had to get back to my life and I assumed Dom would contact me when he could, like usual," Professor Miles finally explained to his rather distraught student.

"But why didn't you talk to me? I could have told you Cobb had made it through customs!" Ariadne exclaimed.

Professor Miles' face softened. "Ariadne, I didn't ask Dom for any details on the job he wanted you for. I didn't know how involved you had gotten and I didn't want to risk getting you into any more trouble than I was sure you had already gotten into thanks to my son-in-law." Ariadne's hostile stance relaxed a little, but her face still held a scowl.

"No one else has heard from Cobb? What about that man, Eames? Was he involved in this last job? I know Cobb has mentioned him a few times before," Professor Miles asked hopeful.

"No, I've already contacted everybody who was on this last job. No one has heard anything and none of them have had any problems or anything suspicious happen to them since the job either," Arthur confirmed. The professor nodded and leaned back in his desk chair as he tapped a pen on the edge of his wooden desk.

"What about your last architect?" he finally asked.

"What about him?" Arthur asked.

"What happened to him? I mean, why didn't Cobb use him for this last job. Why did he need Ariadne?" Professor Miles clarified.

"We needed Ariadne, because our last architect was an idiot! He missed a few important details during one of our extractions, which cost us the job," Arthur explained obviously disgusted.

"And what happened to this architect?" Professor Miles asked.

"Well, then we got the job that was supposed to take Cobb home and our new employer had our architect taken off to our former employer. I always assumed our former employer had had him killed, they were those kind of people," Arthur said shrugging his shoulders.

Ariadne stood beside Arthur, wide-eyed. She couldn't believe how nonchalant he sounded.

"You think maybe our former architect has something to do with Cobb's disappearance?" Arthur asked already looking like he was going into deep thought.

"I'd say it's worth looking into. Even if your former employer executed him, perhaps he told them something that was able to tip them off about Cobb. If the extraction was a failure maybe they wanted the man in charge to pay, i.e. Dom, and weren't just going to be satisfied with killing the architect," Professor Miles explained in a hushed whisper, as some of the first students for his night class were beginning to usher in.

"Thank you Professor Miles. I appreciate your help," Arthur said sincerely as he shook Stephen Miles' hand again, his earlier doubts about the man fading. Obviously Stephen Miles was just wary of Cobb's associates, and probably rightfully so, as many who worked in the field of subconscious espionage weren't exactly citizen's of the year.

"You're welcome Arthur and please let me know what you find out."

"I will," Arthur agreed.

"Professor, I don't think I'm going to be in class tomorrow," Ariadne quickly said.

"Don't worry, I'll let your other teachers know that you need to take a leave of absence. I have a few favours I can call in around here and I'll see to it that the appropriate paperwork is filed so that you don't wind up on probation," Professor Miles assured his young student.

"Thanks, I owe you. For everything!" she nodded and then spun around trailing after Arthur who was already on his way to the room's exit.

However, as she was lightly jogging up the stairs to the exit Ariadne noticed one of the students, who was already in the room waiting for the night class to start, throw a wink Arthur's way and then a dazzling model-like smile.

As Arthur was in front of her Ariadne couldn't see how he responded, but she hoped he hadn't encouraged her. _Stupid girl she's probably failing this class because she's too busy trawling for a potential husband _Ariadne thought bitterly, making sure to glare at the girl as she passed by her.

"You don't have to take a leave of absence from school," Arthur said once they were out in the hall. "I'll do some digging and if it turns out I need to assemble a team, then I will be sure to call you."

"Arthur, I may not have known Cobb as long as you, but I really got emotionally involved with his issues and his kids. I want to help him! I want to help him get back home to his family! To me, that was as much the point of the Fischer job as it was to get Fischer to break his father's company up!" Ariadne retorted rather loudly.

"Shh!" Arthur chastised as he grabbed Ariadne's arm and pulled her through the halls and out of the building.

"I just don't think you should throw your educational goals out the window, to go chase some small possibility that may or may not help us find Cobb. I'm not saying you can't help. I'm just saying that you should let me do some more research first. That's my area of expertise; I'm the information/details guy. I'll call you in if, and when, I find out anything useful and need an architect," Arthur promised once they were outside well away from prying ears.

"Arthur," Ariadne sighed as she sunk onto a nearby bench. Arthur rolled his eyes before joining her. Something told him she wasn't going to listen to him.

"You saw my room. You were right! I can't focus on my schoolwork. I spend all my time creating penrose stairs and complicated labyrinths that are useless as far as my teachers are concerned. I need a break from all this!" She threw her arms up in the air indicating the university campus grounds. She sighed letting her arms fall back down to her sides.

"Maybe a break. Maybe helping you find Cobb will get me back on track. I don't know! I just know I can't stay here anymore, pretending to want to go for coffee with Sara, and pretending to listen to Professor Miles' lectures! It's not fair to any of them," Ariadne vented.

"It's a vicious cycle," Arthur agreed. He sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. "You're welcome to help me if that's what you really want, but I –" Arthur faltered briefly now. Ariadne looked at him expectantly an eyebrow rising in question.

"I just don't want to see you give up on everything," he finally finished looking a little embarrassed. Ariadne gave him a hard stare, wondering if that was what he had really intended to say or not.

"This school, your education. They will offer you the real job opportunities. All I can offer you -" Arthur coughed here, as though choking on his words. "What Cobb was offering you, was a life of illegal corporate espionage and that's no life," Arthur finally concluded. A long silence set in, but it wasn't uncomfortable, as the two were both obviously lost in their own thoughts.

Finally, the sound of some birds chirping broke through Ariadne's reverie. She glanced to the tree to her left and spotted the little offenders. She smirked, before finally addressing her companion again, "I want to help you Arthur and I do intend to come back to school eventually and finish what I started, but right now . . . right now I feel like this is what I need to be doing."

"Okay, then," Arthur agreed knowing he really had no say in the matter. He stood up from the bench and extended a hand to Ariadne. "Let's go to my hotel room and see if we can't figure out what happened to Nash."

**Note: Well our characters finally have a possible lead on Cobb. Please Review as they make my day that much better!**


	4. Chapter 4: Research

**Extraction**

**Chapter 4: Research**

**Note: I do not own Inception. Thank you to everyone who took the time to review. Cookies for all of you!**

"So, is Smith really your last name?" Ariadne asked, gazing out of Arthur's hotel room window as she did so.

"What?" Arthur asked from the small wooden bistro table he sat at, which was located in one of the dimmer lit areas of the room. The glow of his laptop's screen casting shadows on his now confused face.

"You introduced yourself to my friend Sara, as Arthur Smith. I was just wondering if that was your real last name or not," Ariadne asked as she closed the sheer curtains and left her position by the window.

Arthur chuckled. "No, Smith is not my real last name." Ariadne didn't respond immediately. Instead she grabbed the wooden chair on the other side of the table from Arthur and pulled it out, but she didn't sit in it.

"Is your first name really Arthur?"

Arthur grinned allowing the silence to linger for a little longer than necessary. "Yes, Arthur is the name on my birth certificate." Ariadne nodded and finally sat down in the chair she had pulled out.

"Do you want to know my last name?" he asked.

"It's just, I always wondered why Cobb was the only one to give out both his first and last name. Seemed a little . . . careless," she finally offered in the way of an answer.

"Who said Dom Cobb was his real name?"

"What?" Ariadne shouted in surprised as she hopped out of her chair. Arthur grinned, though his eyes never left the screen of his laptop. "Arthur! You can't just say something like that and then not give me more! Is his name really Dominic Cobb or not?" Ariadne whined as she placed her hands on her hips trying to look intimating.

"Stop distracting me. You're supposed to be helping me track down Cobb, remember?" Ariadne pursed her lips in frustration before finally returning to her seat.

"Fine, what are you looking up?"

"I'm looking into employee files at Cobol Engineering."

"Cobol was the company who employed you guys before Saito, right?" Ariadne clarified as she leaned forward on the table, her elbows propping her body up.

"Yes. Cobol hired Cobb to extract Saito's extension plans for his company. They wanted to know what direction he was taking his company so they could set-up measures to counter his plans. Cobb then contacted me, and an architect named Nash, whom both Cobb and I had worked with in the past. He was an adequate architect, and a pretty decent guy to work with."

"So, what happened?"

"We failed. We went two layers in to try and convince Saito to tell us what we wanted to know. We managed to figure out he had locked his secrets away in the safe we'd created, for just that purpose, but by that time Cobb and I knew Saito was aware it was all a dream. Then Cobb brought in Mal and things pretty much went ass up," Arthur explained, as he continued typing away on his laptop. Ariadne pursed her lips in thought.

"So, you were kicked back right to reality?"

"No, we were just kicked back to the first dream sequence." Arthur stopped his furious typing and looked at Ariadne now.

"But you know, this part has always bothered me. Back on that first level Cobb asked Saito why he allowed us to try and extract the information from him that our employers wanted, if he knew all along it was a dream."

Arthur paused.

"And?" Ariadne asked when Arthur made no move to continue.

"He said it was an audition and that we had failed. Then Cobb continued questioning Saito about the extension plan and that was when Saito became aware that were still dreaming, because Nash had messed up on the damn carpet," Arthur hissed through clenched teeth.

"So, _what_ about that bothered you?" Ariadne asked trying to ease the tension in the room.

"The part that bothered me was where Saito said he was 'auditioning' us."

"Why? I mean he wanted to know if Cobb was really as good as everyone said he was, didn't he? So, he could do the Fischer job, right?" Ariadne asked looking confused.

"Yes, Saito was auditioning us for the Fischer job, but what bothers me is he had to have known before we put him under that we were going to try and extract the extension plans from him, because Cobb said those key pieces of information were what were blotted out in the documents he found in the safe. So, Saito had those under special lock and key because he knew we were specifically going to go into his mind to get that information. So, my question is, who tipped Saito off that we were coming?"

"You think someone at Cobol told Saito?"

"Maybe," Arthur turned his attention back to his laptop now.

"So, what are you doing?"

"It's a long shot, but I'm seeing if anyone on the employee roster at Cobol has anything that could remotely tie him or her to Saito. Married a distant cousin of his, etcetera," Arthur explained.

"So, say we find this secret informer of Saito's. What good will it do us?" Ariadne asked.

"If the guy was willing to give Saito some info before, maybe he will again; for instance, we might be able to get him to tell us who some of the company's off-the-record employees are."

"So, you mean we go into this informer's subconscious and get Eames to pretend to be Saito to try to get us some information?" Ariadne asked.

"I'd much rather avoid doing an extraction on the informer. He's not going to be able to give us any major answers, such as Cobb's status: dead or alive. For all the effort and planning we'd have to put in to do an extraction on him I really don't think it will be worth it." Arthur reached for his cup of coffee now taking a long gulp. Ariadne grimaced, room service had delivered the beverage over an hour ago, and it had to be cold by now.

Arthur, seemingly unfazed by the cold drink, continued, "my guess is money and strong-arm tactics will be enough to get Saito's contact to talk. All we'll have to do is come up with some story about how we work for Saito and he'll be spilling his guts, I can guarantee it."

"How can you be so sure? I mean why would a company like Cobol even keep someone like that around, wouldn't they be a liability?"

"Every organization needs cannon fodder," Arthur replied in way of an answer.

Ariadne shook her head in disbelief. "Ok, let's say I buy all this. Cobol must have thousands of employees won't it take you forever to narrow the list down? Couldn't we just contact Saito? I mean we did him a huge favour, maybe he'd tell us who his informer is and save us hours of research."

"You obviously don't deal with powerful business moguls often, do you?" Arthur asked, a smirk pulling at his lips.

Ariadne rolled her eyes. "Well sorry! Some of us just waitress to pay our way through university, not all of us have had the luxury of getting involved in illegal espionage!"

"Sorry," Arthur relented. Ariadne glared before finally sitting up straighter in her chair

"I'm going to fall asleep just lounging here. Can't I do anything to help?"

The sound of Arthur's fingers flying over his laptop's keyboard filled the silence. Finally, the young man answered, "take my cell and find Eames' number. Tell him to get to Paris ASAP," Arthur instructed.

"What do we need Eames for if we're not doing an extraction on the informer?"

"He'll be the one to question the informer."

"Like question him in reality?" Ariadne clarified. Arthur nodded briefly.

"Okay," Ariadne humoured Arthur and got up out of her chair to go grab Arthur's phone from where he had tossed it on the night table earlier.

"What's your password?" she asked.

"Give it here," Arthur called.

"Scared I'll break into your phone all the time if I know it," she smirked as she continued to hold the phone.

Arthur didn't answer or make any indication he had heard her. Obviously, he wasn't in the mood for games. So, Ariadne just sighed and then tossed the phone in Arthur's direction, he caught it effortlessly. After keying in his password he tossed the phone back to Ariadne, who fumbled, but managed not to drop the rather expensive device.

Ariadne then scrolled through his contact list until she found Eames. The phone rang several times before the forger finally picked up his phone.

"Hello?" the greeting came through a little garbled.

"Hey Eames," Ariadne replied.

"Arthur?" the confused man replied. Ariadne could picture the obviously hung over, or possibly still drunk, forger re-checking his caller id.

"No, this is Ariadne. I'm calling you from Arthur's phone."

"Oh, what can I do for you darling?" Eames asked sounding calmer and a little more sober.

"Arthur asked me to call you. He said you should book a flight to Paris."

"Mmm," the man replied. It sounded as though he were stretching.

"Tell Arthur, I'll be in Paris in a few days. I'm just finishing up something at the moment."

"It's urgent Eames! It's about Cobb!" Ariadne hissed.

"Oh, well . . ." Ariadne heard some rustling on Eames' end of the line.

"I've got a few loose ends to tie up over here, but I should be able to get into Paris by tomorrow night." Ariadne smiled. "Late." Eames added.

"Thanks Eames, you got paper and a pen handy? I'll give you the hotel Arthur is staying at." After Ariadne had given Eames the information and said her goodbyes she made her way back to Arthur setting his cell phone beside him on the table.

"All taken care of. He'll be here late tomorrow night," she said proudly.

"Great," Arthur said, though he sounded unimpressed.

Ariadne frowned, somehow when she had offered to help Arthur with his research efforts this wasn't how she had seen things turning out. Not that she had envisioned some sort of steamy make-out session or anything, but she had just imagined things being more easy-going, a chance for the two of them to work on something together and maybe get to know each other better. However, with how tense things seemed Ariadne didn't imagine that that was going to happen.

"What can I do for you now?" she finally asked. Arthur's eyes darted over to Ariadne very briefly before going back to focus on the screen of his laptop. The tiniest of smirks pulled at the corner of his lips.

"What?" Ariadne demanded not missing the move, a smile pulling at her own lips. Had she written bonding time off too soon? Maybe Arthur was finally lightening up.

"Nothing," Arthur responded, barely able to keep the grin off his face.

"You were going to say something perverted, weren't you?" Ariadne demanded her hands going to her slim hips as she feigned anger.

"No," he said firmly, though it did nothing to convince Ariadne.

"My goodness, after only spending a few hours alone with you Arthur I think I'm getting to know the real you better than I did after months of working with you on the Fischer job," Ariadne joked using a fake haughty tone.

Arthur laughed as he scrubbed his face with the palms of his hands. "I'm just getting tired," he finally said. "Too many hours of research lately and not enough sleep. I guess I'm just starting to lose it."

If Ariadne were bolder she would have made some sort of witty remark about the two of them catching up on sleep together, but unfortunately she wasn't feeling it. So, instead she just stood awkwardly beside Arthur as he went back to work. Finally she sighed and flopped onto the nearby king size bed.

"Help me think of ways to narrow this list down. I have over 400 individuals still who could possibly have a connection to Saito," Arthur finally begged as he leaned back in his chair causing it to tip onto its back legs.

"How do you even know if Saito's informer is going to be on that roster? I mean, Cobol is obviously not using strictly legal means to make their money if they were willing to use extraction on a rival company. They probably have countless people they pay off the record, as you already suggested."

" I know, but if my past experiences are anything to go on. Then it's just the muscle that the company is going to be paying off the record. My feeling is that our informer isn't anyone too important at the company, but he or she will probably have connections to someone who is."

"Like maybe a secretary or something?" Ariadne asked.

"Exactly, and a secretary would be on a list of current employees," Arthur pointed out. "I'd like to get this list narrowed down to at most five names, so when Eames comes in it will give him somewhere a little more concrete to start to collect intel."

"I still think it would be best to just use extraction," Ariadne finally said.

"I already explained to you why we can't," Arthur snapped sounding annoyed. He angrily plopped his chair back onto all four legs with a thump. After a moment his face softened and he addressed Ariadne again, "you saw how long it took for us to prep for the Fischer job, plus we had to pay off the flight attendant. It would just take far too long to do all the prep work necessary if we used extraction every time we needed to get information from a person." Ariadne nodded from her position on the bed in understanding.

"That's why we do all this extra work first. We want to get ourselves as close to the one person who has all the answers, whose mind we really want to get into. Plus, it's usually easy enough to scare the little guys. They'll take cash bribes, or you can always try threatening their loved ones. The big guys aren't usually scared as easily, so we perform extraction on them."

"But wouldn't the person who has all the answers be whoever is in charge of Cobol?" Ariadne asked her brow furrowing in confusion, "Why don't we just plan to go into his subconscious?"

"Not necessarily. A lot of these big business bosses let others take care of their dirty work, for their own safety. If Cobb was abducted by Cobol and was executed or is being held by them, then chances are the main boss isn't going to know much more than, that either. He'll only know that either: 1. Cobb has been executed or 2. He's being held _somewhere_ by his company for questioning," Arthur explained, "which we've already guessed. So, what we need are the details like when, where etcetera, and one of the mobsters Cobol has working for them is going to be able to give us those kinds of answers."

"Arg, this is so frustrating." Ariadne groaned as she grabbed a pillow to smother her face with. Arthur turned his attention back to his laptop.

"Don't worry, we'll need you to start building dream worlds soon enough," Arthur assured the girl. Ariadne soon removed the pillow so she could take in some air.

"So, is Dominic Cobb his real name or not?"

"Really?" Arthur asked in disbelief as he stopped his typing to throw a disgusted look in Ariadne's direction. The girl just grinned in response.

"Hey, you're the one who started this!"

"It's the only name Cobb has given me that he didn't refer to as being an alias," Arthur finally said.

"Fair enough." Ariadne propped herself up on the pillow she had been formerly trying to smother herself with.

"So, what kind of filters have you put on your list so far?" Ariadne asked. Arthur began to explain to her what criteria he had thus far used to narrow his list of suspects, and Ariadne offered some ideas of her own. However, by about 2:30am Ariadne drifted off to sleep leaving Arthur to continue the task on his own.

**Note: I hope you enjoyed. We still don't know what's happened to Cobb, but looks like Eames is going to enter the picture next chapter.**


	5. Chapter 5: Growing Romance

**Extraction**

**Chapter 5: Growing Romance**

**Note: I do not own Inception and thank you again to everyone who took the time to review it makes writing worthwhile.**

Ariadne slowly felt herself drifting back to consciousness. She could feel a light breeze gently washing over her. Her vision was blurry so she rubbed her eyes trying to remove the sleep from them. Ariadne was momentarily confused as she sat up. She wasn't in her messy room back at the B&B. Then she recalled the events of yesterday.

Ariadne rubbed her eyes again before looking to the window, which had been left slightly ajar, and then spotted Arthur. He was slumped in an armchair beside the window, with one of the small chairs from the little bistro table propping his long legs up.

Ariadne grinned as she unabashedly took in Arthur's sleeping form. He had changed out of his suit sometime while she slept and now wore only a pair of washed out sweat pants. Ariadne shook her head. For some reason she had always assumed Arthur's sleepwear would be as regal as his everyday wear. Something like dark green silk pants with a matching button down top seemed more appropriate. It was while Ariadne was lost in these thoughts that Arthur awoke with a groan.

"What?" he croaked as he saw Ariadne grinning at him.

"Uh, n-nothing," she stammered obviously slightly embarrassed at having gotten caught starring at him. "How did your list go?" Ariadne quickly covered.

Arthur yawned again and glanced in the direction of the hotel room clock, he looked pretty beat.

"Not too bad. I have four possible suspects. I'm sure Eames will be able to knock at least too off, using his 'instincts.' I don't approve of such methods, but I do have to admit his instincts are pretty good, even if it's not reflected in his gambling," Arthur said as he pulled himself up out of the armchair and stretched. "Damn, got a kink in my neck," he said to no one in particular as he tried to work the said 'kink' out.

"Sorry, you should have woken me when you wanted to go bed. I could have walked home, it's not far," Ariadne apologized as she finally pulled herself off of the big bed.

"No, it's not a big deal. I've slept in far worse conditions," Arthur said quickly.

"So, what do we do today?" Ariadne asked at last.

"Well first I want to shower, and I'm sure you'll want to go home and change as well. So, how about we meet back at that little café of yours in an hour and a half?" Arthur suggested.

"Sure, see you then," Ariadne said as she rushed to the door of the hotel trying to keep herself from admiring Arthur's naked torso. However, as Ariadne past Arthur he grabbed her arm, gently, but firmly.

"Hey, thanks for your help yesterday." His eyes focused on hers with such intensity that Ariadne could feel a blush beginning to stain her face.

"Uh, no problem, but I don't know that I helped much," Ariadne finally replied.

"Well, in any case your company helped keep me alert."

Ariadne nodded, but made no move to leave as Arthur's hand still held her arm. Finally, as if realizing what was happening Arthur gave a fake cough as he removed his hand and looked anywhere, but at Ariadne.

"So, see you in a bit," he mumbled. Ariadne nodded and rushed out of the hotel room. She walked several paces into the hall before stopping to catch her breath. She hadn't even realized she had been holding her breath, or that her heart was pounding so uncontrollably until just now. She placed a hand to her chest to try to calm herself and took a couple of deep breaths. Then smiled as she recalled Arthur's touch. Soon enough the ding of an elevator door opening brought Ariadne back to reality. She glanced down at her watch and began her rush home so that she wouldn't be late meeting Arthur.

Despite Ariadne's fears of being late, it was actually Arthur that ended up late for their café rendezvous. He had apologized profusely saying he had had to give Eames a call because one of the people on the list he had compiled was near Eames' current location and Arthur wanted him to check the guy out before he left for Paris.

After meeting at the café for a quick breakfast, though considering the time of day it would probably have been more appropriate to call it a quick lunch, the two were now heading towards Ariadne's boarding house. This was so the girl could grab her laptop before they headed back to Arthur's hotel room, to once again do research.

"Paris, really is beautiful," Arthur murmured as the two walked slowly towards their destination, neither seeming to be in a rush despite the fact that they still had a lot of research to do.

Ariadne nodded, "nowhere better to study architecture if you want my opinion." The young woman paused briefly to look over the edge of the bridge they were crossing.

"When Cobb was first introducing me to shared dreaming and creating the landscape of the dream I created this bridge," Ariadne finally told Arthur as she rested her arms on the railing.

"It is striking," the young man mused.

"He then proceeded to lecture me about the dangers of re-creating an entire place from your memory," Ariadne chuckled softly at the thought.

"It is an easy way to lose your grip on reality," Arthur admonished, as he joined the architect by the railing, his arm gently bumping into hers.

Ariadne's turned her gaze on Arthur now, as though she were trying to memorize his features. The young man finally drew his eyes away from the distant scenery to the young woman beside him, as though he could sense her eyes on him.

Then the briefest of actions caught the point man's attention. He shifted his eyes to look at Ariadne's right hand, which he was sure had gone to her pocket to feel for her totem.

"Not dreaming then?" Arthur asked softly as he reached for Ariadne's hand, which still seemed to be worrying over the totem in her pocket.

"No," she replied in a barely audible whisper. Suddenly the two jumped as a young child's shrieks broke their trance. Ariadne spotted a toddler not far away who had just dropped his sucker on the ground and was crying because his mother wouldn't let him pick it up and continue eating it.

"I guess we should get going or we'll never get to my place," Ariadne finally said as she turned to continue in the direction of her boarding house.

Arthur stood for a moment more, reaching for his own loaded die totem before following Ariadne. If they was ever a Hollywood perfect "kiss the girl" moment, that had been it and the point man certainly knew he had missed it.

Ariadne and Arthur were both back in Arthur's hotel room working in silence. They sat opposite each other at the little bistro table each typing away silently at their own laptop.

Arthur had told Ariadne to do regular Google searches on Cobol. He told her she should print every article she could find relating to the company or any of its employees, while he set to work using more devious methods for gathering information. Ariadne had chosen not to ask exactly what those methods were as she assumed they were less than legal.

Even though Arthur had done a substantial amount of research on Cobol before Cobb and he had taken on the Saito job for them, he wanted to go over everything again. He wanted to be sure he hadn't missed anything; because this time he wasn't just gathering information on Cobol for protocol's sake (Cobb always liked to have some background info on their employers), but for the sake of finding Cobb.

Ariadne stretched as she printed off yet another newspaper story concerning Cobol. She ran her hands through her rather dishevelled hair and sighed. She was sure the stupid stories she was printing were useless, but Arthur had insisted she print everything she find so he could glance over them later. _Damn him and his photographic memory_ she silently cursed. Her own memory she felt to be selectively photographic, as she could remember a great landscape with amazing detail or beautiful intricate buildings, but recalling facts and figures did not come as easily to the architect.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a harsh knock on the hotel room door. Arthur typed a few more commands into his laptop before distractedly getting up to answer the door.

"Hey Eames," Arthur greeted, barely glancing at the man as he came into the room. Ariadne glances at the clock, nearly 1:30am, she couldn't believe it was that late already.

"Wonderful to see you too," Eames replied, his voice filled with fake enthusiasm. "Ariadne," Eames said tilting his head in acknowledgement to the young woman.

Ariadne gave Eames a rueful grin as if she were apologizing for Arthur's lack of hospitality.

"Would you like a drink, or are you hungry? I could order you some room service," Ariadne finally offered.

"A drink would be great. How about you join me down at the bar?' Eames asked as he held out a hand in Ariadne's direction. Ariadne was surprised by Eames' proposal and sat momentarily stunned before finally responding.

"Well, I –" she began to stammer, but Arthur cut her off.

"No!" he said firmly Ariadne jumped and Eames' smile just widened. "I have some stuff to run by you and I cold use a break anyway. _I'll_ join you for a drink," Arthur said, his gaze never leaving the screen of his laptop.

"Yeah, I need to get back to my place anyway. I have stuff to do," Ariadne finally concluded, as she slammed her laptop shut. She then collected all the papers she had printed into a somewhat presentable pile and placed them on the table near Arthur.

"I'll catch up with the two of you tomorrow then?" she asked as she glanced between Arthur and Eames, who had taken up station by the window.

"Sure, I'll call you," Arthur said as closed his own laptop. Arthur nodded at Eames and the three exited the hotel room. They rode the elevator down to the lobby in silence.

Once the elevator doors dinged open and the trio stepped out, Ariadne made to part ways with the two men.

"Hold on, I'll get you a cab," Arthur said as he went to the first desk.

"Oh, don't worry, it's not far," Ariadne began to protest, but Arthur held up a hand for silence as he began speaking to the woman at the reception desk.

After a moment Arthur motioned for Ariadne to follow him outside. Eames trailed several feet behind an amused looked on his face.

"Honestly-" Ariadne began again, but Arthur cut her off again.

"I'm not going to let you walk home by yourself at this time of night. Besides, I would have done the same if it were Eames going off alone. It's just not smart to invite trouble," Arthur replied in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Oh," Ariadne huffed. Arthur looked confused as she crossed her arms in a standoffish manner.

"What?" Arthur asked genuinely confused.

"Nothing," she snapped a little more coldly than she had actually intended. The two were now standing outside the front of the hotel waiting for the taxi to arrive. Eames lit a cigarette as he lounged in the entryway that amused grin still plastered on his face.

Finally, after a few uncomfortable minutes, the taxi pulled into view and Arthur quickly stepped forward to open the door for Ariadne. The girl hurriedly got in and Arthur leaned over her to speak to the driver. He gave the driver her address and a nice big bonus, which the driver accepted most graciously.

"I'll call you tomorrow," Arthur promised as he closed her door. He stood watching as the cab drove off before joining Eames in the entryway to the hotel.

"You do know she was looking for you to be her knight in shining armour just now, don't you?" Eames asked as he flicked his cigarette butt to the ground, stomping it out.

"What? I got her a cab – "Arthur began, but Eames cut him off.

"Yeah, you were doing great until you said 'I would have done the same if it were Eames going off alone,'" Eames mimicked.

"But it's true –" Arthur began to protest again.

"Who cares if it's the truth? That is not what the woman wanted to hear!" Eames bellowed a little more loudly than was necessary causing the few guests in the lobby to turn in the their direction as they stepped back inside the hotel.

"I think I really could use that drink now," Arthur finally relented in defeat.

"That's more like it. Let's get you drunk! Maybe you'll have more sense then," Eames sang as he linked his arm through Arthur's and led him to the lounge.

**Note: I am currently on a role with my daily updates! Go me! Hopefully the next chapter will be up tomorrow too and as always please review, your comments help me make the story better!**


	6. Chapter 6: Distraction

**Extraction**

**Chapter 6: Distraction**

**Note: I do not own Inception. Also, my apologies, I only just noticed that the page breaks I inserted into my word document to show that some time has passed between scenes in the story have not been showing up on . I have caught the error now and will adjust accordingly. I hope this hasn't caused anyone too much trouble in understanding what has been happening in the story! I'll probably go back and fix the earlier chapters at a later date . . . or maybe not (sometimes I get lazy ^_^). Anyway, on with the story!**

"Ug, my head is killing me! Please tell me you have some Aspirin or something?" Arthur moaned from the armchair he had taken refuge in again last night, leaving the bed for Eames.

Eames gave a low chuckle as he finished buttoning his shirt. "Oh, Arthur, I suddenly remember why I used to like you so much."

Arthur just groaned and closed his eyes, "and I suddenly remember, why I dislike you so much," he replied grumpily, slouching even further down in his chair.

"You know when I asked Ariadne to join me for a drink last night I didn't mean anything by it, right Arthur?" Eames finally said his voice taking on a rather serious tone.

"You just sounded upset yesterday when I offered and I just wanted to clear things up. I mean she's too young for me for starters and secondly I'm not into stealing another man's girl," the forger tried again.

There was a long silence before Arthur replied, "ya, I know, but she's not really my girl anyway."

Arthur sighed and finally forced himself up and out of the armchair. "I need a shower. Finish looking over the rest of the info I pulled yesterday with Ariadne," Arthur instructed and headed to the bathroom. Eames saluted and grabbed a stack of papers from the small bistro table.

* * *

><p>Ariadne had had a restless night's sleep. All sorts of nightmares had plagued her. The first had been about the Fischer job. Every maze she had created it seemed Fischer knew inside and out and kept thwarting the team's attempts to plant the idea Saito had commissioned them to implant into Fischer's mind.<p>

The next sequence of dreams had been about Arthur. In one Arthur and her friend Sara were announcing their engagement and wanted Ariadne to be their wedding planner.

Then in another, Ariadne had caught Arthur, and the no-name girl who had winked at Arthur in Professor Miles' night class the other night, together in Arthur's hotel room bed.

In another Arthur was angry with Ariadne for distracting him and keeping him from trying to find Cobb, and so on and so forth. It was safe to say Ariadne had kept her totem close by last night.

"You don't look well dear," commented Ariadne's landlady as the plump elderly woman took a seat at the communal dining area, which was now empty, save for Ariadne and the old woman, as the other students were in class already. The aged woman placed a steaming mug of coffee in front of Ariadne and sat back opening her newspaper.

"Thanks," Ariadne said as she blew on the mug and then sipped the coffee.

"You know you got in awfully late last night, and the night before I don't think you even came home till morning," the elderly woman commented as she rustled her paper.

"I'm not five years old Mrs Dufour, and you're not my mother," Ariadne said defensively, not in the mood for a lecture.

"I know dear. I was just commenting on the fact is all," she said kindly. Ariadne turned her attention back to her coffee. "Were you with that handsome young man from the other day?"

"Mrs. Dufour!" Ariadne exclaimed as she nearly tipped her coffee over.

"Don't you usually have classes on Thursdays?" Mrs. Dufour said quickly changing the subject, her focus still on her newspaper.

"I've taken a temporary leave of absence," Ariadne mumbled as she regained her composure.

"Oh?" Mrs. Dufour asked, as she rolled her eyes expectantly in Ariadne's direction. "Are you having a difficult time right now, trouble making rent? We could always work something out –" Ariadne cut her well-meaning landlady off.

"No, no, it's nothing like that. It's just a friend of mine has gone missing and I want to focus my attention on helping . . ." she paused looking for the right way to continue, "the authorities in locating him," Ariadne finally explained.

"I see and is this young man one of the 'authorities' that you're helping?" Mrs. Dufour asked.

Ariadne almost laughed at Mrs. Dufour's persistence. "No, he's also a friend, of my missing friend."

"I see. A mutual friend then," Mrs. Dufour smirked. She was obviously slightly making fun of Ariadne. "Do any of these friends of yours have names?" She asked. Ariadne sighed, the old woman was persistent she'd give her that.

"The guy who was here is named Arthur," she finally offered.

"Mmm," Mrs. Dufour replied as she turned a page of her newspaper. It was at that moment that Ariadne's cell phone began to ring, causing the young woman to jump. She fumbled with the phone momentarily before finally answering it.

"Hello."

The room was deathly silent as Mrs. Dufour struggled to hear who was on the other end of the call.

"You're outside? Already?" Ariadne snapped as she hopped out of her chair and poked her head out of the window in the dining room. "Well, I suppose I'm ready. I just need to grab my bag. I'll be right out," Ariadne finally said and flipped her phone shut shoving it into the pocket of her jeans.

"Thank you for the coffee Mrs. Dufour!" Ariadne called as she ran up the stairs to her room. Mrs. Dufour made her way to the dining room window and hid off to the side, hoping that the sheer curtains would hide her from the people she wanted to spy on outside.

She saw the same young man from the other day leaning against the outside of a cab glancing impatiently at his watch, while another unfamiliar, slightly older gentlemen puffed on a cigarette near the back of the cab. Both men were dressed impeccably Mrs. Dufour noted, but she couldn't shake the uneasy feeling they gave her.

Mrs. Dufour stepped away from the window briefly as she heard Ariadne's footsteps descending the stairs. Once the front door slammed however, she returned to her post.

"It would have been nice to have a little more warning," Mrs. Dufour could hear Ariadne snap to the two men. The unfamiliar man tossed his unfinished cigarette to the ground and stomped it out while the younger man, Arthur, opened the back door of the cab for Ariadne, who then got inside. Arthur followed and the unfamiliar man took the front passenger seat.

"Oh Ariadne, I hope you haven't gotten yourself into some sort of trouble," Mrs. Dufour murmured. She gave one last fleeting glance at the departing cab before returning to her newspaper.

* * *

><p>"So, where are we going?" Ariadne asked after a few moments of silence, since it seemed neither man was going to tell her of his own volition.<p>

"It's a surprise," Arthur finally offered. She had a feeling that it wasn't a surprise, but that he merely didn't want to discuss anything with the cab driver listening.

"Well, I love surprises," she finally muttered as she slouched back in her seat. After several minutes Ariadne finally said, "Hey, are we going to the Eiffel Tower?" She obviously recognized the path the cab driver was taking.

"Aw, you guessed it," Eames joked from the front seat. Ariadne gave Arthur a confused look, but he just shook his head as if to say he still couldn't explain. Soon enough the cab driver had gotten as close as he could get the trio and so Eames tossed the man some money and they exited the cab.

"Now can you please explain?" Ariadne asked only seconds after their feet had hit pavement.

"One of the men on the list I compiled is in Paris vacationing with his family. It didn't take too much digging for me to figure out what tours they had signed up for and it just so happens that their tour group should be arriving at the Eiffel Tower in the next few minutes," Arthur explained as he ushered Ariadne forward.

"What about the man you were supposed to investigate before coming to Paris?" Ariadne asked Eames as the three began walking towards their destination.

"I managed to run into him in a bar, but after talking to him for only a few minutes I could tell he wasn't Saito's informer," Eames explained.

"So, second time's the charm?" Ariadne asked smirking.

"Hopefully," Arthur replied.

"I have a much better feeling about this man, than the last, especially after reading the details you and Arthur pulled up on him," Eames informed Ariadne.

"I don't approve of relying on instincts and feelings, I prefer facts, but the longer I work with Eames and even Cobb, the more comfortable I seem to get with the notion," Arthur said as though he wanted his opinion on this matter duly noted.

"Ok, so what are we going to do?" Ariadne asked as they paused briefly. Arthur removed a camera from his pocket and pretended to take a picture of a nearby building, like any American tourist might.

"You and I are going to distract the family, while Eames manages to steal our suspect away from the group," Arthur explained as he reached for Ariadne's elbow and gently led her away from Eames who was crossing the street.

"There's the tour group!" Arthur hissed a moment later. Ariadne looked back, but saw Eames was no longer in sight.

"Arthur, what do you mean we are going to distract them?" Ariadne whispered as they approached the group, a worried look crossing her features.

"We aren't doing anything illegal," Arthur promised as he wrapped an arm casually around Ariadne's waist and they fell into step just behind the tour group.

The group of tourists were all bustling with excitement as they made their way towards the famous Parisian landmark. Once the tour group was fully immersed in taking pictures and doing the 'tourist' thing, Arthur began to lead Ariadne toward their target.

"Now sweet heart, approximately how many iron pieces did you say it took to create the Eiffel Tower?" Arthur asked in a rather comically loud voice when they were close to a few of the families taking pictures. Arthur held his camera up again and motioned for Ariadne to stand where he wanted her for his picture.

"About 12,000 iron pieces were designed separately so that the correct shape could be achieved," Ariadne finally replied and then cleared her throat as her voice sounded scratchy to her ears. She then smiled as though she were really posing for a picture.

Her eyes scanned the families trying to decide, which of the father's was their target. Arthur continued to pretend to fiddle with his camera, as though he couldn't get the right angle.

"Right, right," he agreed, loudly again, as he moved to the right and then the left as though trying to get the perfect shot.

"Ya, all the pieces were prefabricated and fit together using approximately 7 million nails," Ariadne continued when she noticed a few of the nearby children eyeing her.

"Oh sorry!" Arthur apologized as he bumped rather roughly into a woman who was focused on trying to take a picture of her husband and kids. He grabbed the stranger's shoulder to steady her.

"You ok Sally?" the husband asked gruffly, coming over to the two. Ariadne just watched with wide eyes.

"Yes, he just bumped into me accidentally," Sally explained as her husband approached.

"I got caught up in the moment," Arthur explained looking sheepish. He indicated Ariadne now, who quickly tried to look impatient for the benefit of those watching.

"Darling, are you going to take the picture or what?" Ariadne finally called, trying to play up her role.

"Would you like me to take a picture of the two of you together?" Sally quickly offered.

"Oh, sure that would be great!" Arthur exclaimed more animatedly than Ariadne had ever heard him before. The two children came over to where their mother and father stood.

"Did it really take like 7 million nails to build this thing?" The younger of the two boys asked Ariadne. The camera flashed and Arthur and Ariadne approached the family to get their camera back.

"It sure did," Ariadne explained and reached for the camera from Sally. Arthur then casually positioned himself so that the husband, who was already hanging back from the group a little uncomfortably, was completely excluded. Ariadne could see Eames from the corner of her eye, he had changed his appearance, but Ariadne still knew it was Eames, because she was specifically looking for him.

"I go to school here in Paris. I'm from the states, but was accepted to a graduate program here, in architecture. So, obviously the Eiffel Tower is pretty inspiring to me," Ariadne said putting on a big grin. She realized she was babbling, but she was trying her best to keep the family occupied so they wouldn't notice as Eames led the father away.

"That's my girlfriend! Super smart! I just know she's going to design amazing buildings that people will flock to for centuries!" Arthur bragged, sounding like the perfect supportive and doting boyfriend. Then not missing a beat he leaned in and gave her a big exaggerated kiss on the cheek. All of this was so out of character for Arthur that Ariadne nearly burst out laughing, but she managed to hold herself together.

"How wonderful," Sally congratulated the two warmly. "Would you mind taking a family picture for us?" she continued.

"Sure," Arthur replied enthusiastically, reaching for the camera in Sally's hand.

"Kids, go stand back over there," Sally instructed and then turned to obviously address her husband.

"Paul, I'd like you on the left," Sally began, but stopped when she saw her husband wasn't standing behind her anymore. She glanced in all directions, confusion etching its way onto her face, "Paul?" she called, not in a worried tone, but more an annoyed one. "Where did that man go? Honestly," she huffed impatiently.

"Shall I wait?" Arthur asked.

"No, no. He probably just slipped off to check his voicemail. I swear he can't help himself, he's a workaholic," Sally muttered, annoyed as she took up a position by her kids. Ariadne smiled, that man was going to get an earful when Eames returned him to Sally's clutches.

"Smile!" Arthur instructed, and then snapped the picture.

"You guys looked great," Ariadne praised as Arthur handed the camera back to Sally.

"Thanks," Sally responded distracted as she continued to scan the crowd for her husband.

"Well, good luck finding your husband," Arthur said in a joking, yet apologetic tone, as though he felt sorry for the poor woman being stuck with a workaholic husband.

"Thank you, and good luck with your schooling," Sally said as she turned her attention back to Arthur and Ariadne.

"Thanks," Ariadne replied. Arthur than draped an arm across her shoulders as he led her off at a casual pace. Ariadne was about to ask Arthur what the next move in their plan was, but Arthur, as though sensing her intentions, quickly cut her off.

"Shall, we go for lunch sweetie?" Arthur asked loudly, still playing the role of boyfriend, but Ariadne couldn't tell if it was for the benefit of the crowd now or just as a running joke. So, she just nodded and Arthur led them to the streets and got them a cab.

Note: The information Ariadne recited about the Eiffel Tower came from this website: .

**Please review! I'm excited to say last chapter received the most reviews to date, let's see if we can't beat that record.**


	7. Chapter 7: Informer

**Extraction**

**Chapter 7: Informer**

**Note: I do not own Inception. Also, I will say now that the French is courtesy of Google translation, so if there are any issues with it blame Google ^_^ on with the story. Also, sorry just after I posted the last chapter I noticed that I forgot to include the link to the info I pulled on the Eiffel Tower. So, here it is: .**

"Puis-je vous autre chose? Dessert peut-etre?" the waiter asked the young couple sitting at a small table on the restaurant's patio. **Translation: Can I get you anything else? Dessert perhaps?**

"Non merci, juste la facture s'il vous plait," Arthur replied. **Translation: No thank you. Just the bill please.**

Ariadne sipped the remainder of her water. "Are we going to meet Eames now?" Arthur nodded as the waiter returned with their bill. After leaving some rather large bills on the table Arthur led Ariadne out of the small restaurant and to the street. He managed to wave down a taxi and gave the man the address of his hotel. Ariadne noticed Arthur was absently playing with the camera they had used earlier at the Eiffel Tower.

"How did our picture turn out?" she asked.

"Hmm?" Arthur asked turning his attention to Ariadne.

"Our picture from the Eiffel Tower, how did it turn out?" she repeated.

Arthur turned the camera on and went into the camera's memory to locate the picture. He then turned the camera so the digital screen faced Ariadne.

"Hey, it's pretty good. We make a great loving couple," she joked, though she was only half kidding.

Arthur smiled as well, as though he too thought the idea amusing, but the smile quickly faded away. Ariadne wasn't sure why, but she decided not to get into it. He was probably just concerned about Eames. I mean one of their friends was missing and they suspected Cobol was behind it, all they needed was for another of their team to be abducted by these lunatics.

Once at the hotel the two stepped out of the cab and took the elevator to the 5th floor. Arthur slipped the key card to his room out of his pants pocket and inserted it into the door. The little light blinked green signalling the door was unlocked and Arthur and Ariadne stepped into the room.

It was empty, "Eames doesn't appear to be here," Ariadne finally said when Arthur didn't say anything. Arthur removed his jacket and placed it on the back of the armchair, which had served as his bed the past two nights. He loosened his tie and rolled the sleeves of his shirt up as he took a seat at the small bistro table and opened his laptop.

"I didn't expect him to be here yet actually. Unless of course Paul wasn't Saito's inside man, then I imagine the questioning would have been over already. No, I'd say the fact that Eames isn't here bodes well for us," Arthur mused, strumming his fingers on the edge of his computer as he waited for it to heat up.

"So, what you're saying is you think we may have found our guy?" Ariadne asked a wide grin on her face.

"It's quite possible."

"Well, lucky us. So, what should we do in the meantime?" Ariadne asked, silently hoping Arthur was not going to suggest she continue to search Google for more articles about Cobol. As much she wanted to help Cobb, Ariadne felt that one day of non-stop gruelling research had been quite enough, at least for her. Surely there were other ways she could contribute.

"What indeed?" Arthur asked raising his eyebrows suggestively.

Ariadne smiled and shook her head, "still exhausted, or do you have a different excuse this time?"

"Huh?" the young man asked.

"The other night when you started acting . . . less Arthur-ish . . . you said it was because you were tired."

"Less Arthur-ish?" he asked smiling.

"Yeah, more . . . I don't know joking, perverted," she finally explained.

Arthur laughed out loud now, "I have not said anything remotely perverted to you."

"Yeah, but the suggestion is there!" The girl declared not deterring.

"You are just choosing to hear these suggestions," he informed her trying to keep a serious look on his face. Ariadne was the first to crack and covered her mouth as a few chuckles began to escape her lips. Arthur soon joined in.

After their laughter died down Ariadne addressed Arthur again, in a more serious tone. "Do you want to go for a walk? It's a beautiful day, and who knows how long Eames will be," she began to babble.

"Sure," Arthur agreed after a moment. He closed his laptop again and pocketed his room's key card. "Lead the way, sweet heart," he joked using the overly loud exaggerated voice he had used earlier at the Eiffel Tower.

"Of course darling," Ariadne replied in an exaggerated French accented voice. Once out in the hall she linked arms with Arthur and couldn't help thinking that there were more sides to Arthur than just the guy she had gotten to know on the Fischer job.

* * *

><p>It was late afternoon when Arthur and Ariadne returned to Arthur's hotel room, the unofficial base of their little operation. The two were still joking around as they entered the room.<p>

"Hope I'm not interrupting anything," called Eames from inside.

"You're back!" Ariadne cried as she stepped into the room. Eames nodded at her and then gave Arthur a sort of knowing look as he came up behind the young architect.

"You better have good news for us Eames," Arthur commanded as he took a seat in one of the small wooden chairs at the room's bistro-style table. Eames nodded again.

"Well, it's decent news," the forger finally admitted. Ariadne now seated herself on the large, newly made, king size bed.

"Turns out my instincts were correct, and we got a lucky break with ol' Pauly boy," Eames began.

"So, he was Saito's informant at Cobol?" Ariadne asked, excitement creeping into her voice.

"Indeed. Turns out Paul is a sort of glorified errand boy for one of the big boys at Cobol. So, he often overhears important information, but considering he has a family to think of and is actually rather dimwitted, in my opinion, the big guy he works for never dreamed he'd be a rat," Eames explained as he sipped his scotch from the arm chair near the window.

"So, when he heard rumour of Cobol hiring extractors to gain access to Saito's extension plans he passed the tidbit of info on to Saito, then?" Arthur asked.

"Exactly, for a pretty penny too. Helped pay for the family's Parisian excursion I'd bet."

Arthur nodded as though he had assumed as much.

"Anyway," Eames continued, "I asked Pauly-boy if he knew anything about Cobol getting a hold of one of the men from the Saito job?"

"And?" Ariadne asked as Eames took another drink of his scotch.

"And, he said he knew one of the men had been caught only hours after Cobol had figured out that the job had been a failure, but that he didn't know the guy's name, and that by reading between the lines he figured out Cobol had had this guy killed" Eames explained.

"Obviously, he was talking about Nash. After Nash had given us up to Saito and Cobb refused to kill him, Saito said he was having Nash taken to Cobol. Cobb and I both assumed Cobol had just killed him," Arthur interjected.

"So, you think maybe Nash talked to Cobol before they killed him? Gave Cobol info on Cobb?" Ariadne asked.

"They might have questioned Nash, but I doubt he would have given them anything useful. Cobb was never one to divulge personal information to just anybody. I'd like to think Arthur and myself are one of only a few people who know Cobb quite well." Eames explained to the girl.

"However, Nash was present in the dream when Saito said he was 'auditioning' Cobb and no doubt when Nash went to Saito to bargain for his life, Nash figured out that Saito wanted Cobb for a job of his own," Arthur stated.

"Because the deal was Nash would lead Saito to Cobb and then Saito would keep Nash safe from Cobol?" Ariadne asked.

"That's my assumption," Arthur nodded.

"So, it really wouldn't take a genius to figure out Saito wanted Cobb for a job," Ariadne agreed.

"So, if Nash passed this information on Cobol . . ." Eames began as though he were just now following Arthur's train of thought.

"Then all Cobol had to do was trail Saito in the hopes that eventually Saito and Cobb would get together for a business meeting or something, and then they could snag Cobb!" Arthur hissed as he slammed a fist on the table in front of him.

"Precisely," Eames agreed nodding his head.

"So, when Cobol found out Saito was travelling to LA, all they had to do was get some of their people from the American branch of their company to set a trap on that end in case Cobb also showed up," Ariadne mused.

"Probably," Eames agreed as he finished off his scotch.

"But, I mean we took months to get the Fischer job ready, wouldn't Cobol have found it a real pain to trail Saito for that long just in the hopes of _maybe_ finding Cobb?" Ariadne continued.

"Cobol wouldn't have had any trouble waiting around that long for Cobb. They have a reputation to maintain," Arthur said icily.

"Yes, a reputation that says if you fail us we'll get you no matter how long it takes," Eames agreed. Ariadne nodded and rubbed her arms feeling chilled, despite the warm breeze blowing in through the open window.

"So anyway, I asked Pauly boy if he knew the names of any of the men who might have dealt with the captured Nash. My suspicion being that whoever questioned and then killed Nash would be the same person who would get to head the 'catch Dom Cobb' job. Anyway, he gave me a couple of names," Eames explained as he absently played with his now empty glass.

"How do you know he wasn't lying to you, that he didn't just make up these names?" Ariadne asked curiously.

"Well, I can be very persuasive," Eames replied silkily. His eyes carrying a sinister look in them that made Ariadne shiver yet again.

"So, which of the two names do you propose we focus on first?" Arthur asked at last.

"This man," Eames said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper.

"Thomas Leeson?" Arthur asked as he read the name on the furrowed paper.

"Yes, from what Pauly told me I got the impression that this man is the liaison between Cobol and their off the record employees, that he is one of the bigwigs for their underground branch," Eames explained.

"Also, Paul said this guy was the one who specifically said they had someone from the failed Saito job in custody, suggesting he was the man spearheading the questioning and then execution of Nash. Plus, I did a little research of my own while I waited for you two to get back here and the man has made some rather impressive purchases in the last few years. Leeson supposedly officially works at a waste disposal plant and shouldn't be able to afford the types things he's been buying. Suggesting maybe that he's been recently promote, or rewarded for something? Obviously this is your area of expertise though Arthur so I'll leave you to do the heavy research," Eames finally said as he stood up from the armchair and stretched.

"I'm going to go down and order another drink, anyone else want anything?" Eames offered.

Ariadne shook her head, "no thanks."

Arthur nodded slowly, seemingly lost in thought. Finally he spoke, "okay, I'll do the background check on Thomas Leeson. Eames, I need you to figure out how we're going to get close to Leeson to do an extraction on him. Ariadne, I need you to perfect some of those mazes you've been working on. Let's pan to do a two level dream extraction for now, and we'll re-evaluate after I've done some research," Arthur instructed.

"Sure thing, boss. I'll get right on it," Eames mock saluted Arthur. "But about that drink?" Eames asked sounding annoyed now.

"Yeah, I'll have whatever you're having," Arthur said absently. Eames nodded and exited the hotel room.

"Can we really do an extraction without Cobb?" Ariadne asked at last, voicing the fears she had been holding in for the last couple of days. Arthur opened his laptop now and began the process of starting the machine up.

"Both Eames and I have done extraction jobs before with different teams that did not involve Cobb," Arthur informed the architect. The girl nodded, uncertainty still stamped on her face.

"Look, some of those jobs were successful and some were not." Arthur said firmly as he turned to Ariadne to give her his full attention. "But Cobb, though he had a high success rate, didn't _always_ successfully complete his jobs either."

Ariadne nodded again trying to push back her fears. It was only a few minutes later that Eames returned with two rum and cokes for Arthur and himself.

"Thanks," Arthur said as Eames set the drink down beside Arthur's laptop. "Oh, and Eames, if you could also contact Yusuf I would be much obliged."

"Do you honestly think we'll need such a specialized chemist for this job?" Eames asked as he plopped himself down in the armchair again, drink in hand.

"I want this job to go down without a hitch. We already failed with Cobol once and I don't want to fail again! Especially if this man Leeson can help us determine what happened to Cobb!" Arthur declared.

Eames nodded in understanding. "Ok, I'll track him down."

"Good."

"Well, I guess I better go work on my mazes then," Ariadne finally announced as she jumped off the bed and made her way to the door. She paused, however, when Eames cleared his throat rather loudly and theatrically. She turned to face the forger, giving him a questioning look, but the man just gave a couple more low coughs.

"Something in my throat," he explained to the girl as he glanced over at Arthur who was already back on his laptop furiously typing away.

"Isn't that right Arthur?" Eames declared rather stridently.

"Isn't what right?" Arthur asked, distracted.

"That I have something stuck in my throat and Ariadne, who is heading HOME now, shouldn't be concerned," stated the forger. Arthur finally looked up from his laptop, annoyance and confusion gracing his features as he glared at Eames.

However, after making eye contact with Eames, whose back was now turned to Ariadne, Arthur's expression changed and softened. The girl wasn't sure what sort of _look_ the forger had given Arthur, but it had certainly quenched his annoyance.

"That research isn't going anywhere, why don't I walk you home?" Arthur offered now turning his full attention to Ariadne. The young woman gave Eames a stern look as he turned back around to face her. She obviously suspected there was some sort of conspiracy going on, but she couldn't be sure. However, Ariadne wasn't about to turn down Arthur's offer, after all her heart beat quickened at just the thought of spending more time with Arthur and she wasn't entirely sure why.

_Do I like him? _Ariadne wondered to herself. _Sure_, she thought, she also liked Eames, and Cobb. The real question was did she LIKE Arthur or not. The way her body responded to him she couldn't help but think that maybe the answer was yes. However, it was also perfectly normal for a girl to feel attracted to a handsome young man and yet not LIKE him. Ariadne's thoughts were interrupted as Arthur led her out of the hotel room.

"I'll just order myself some room service, till you get back!" Eames called as the two left.

"I'd much rather you finally booked yourself your own room!" Arthur called as he and Ariadne slipped out of the room.

**Note: Hope you enjoyed. Please review!**


	8. Chapter 8: Walk Home

**Extraction**

**Chapter 8: Walk Home**

**Note: I do not own Inception. Also, a thank you to Skye Maxwell for pointing out to me that fan fiction does not let links get posted in stories. It's been so long since I have been on the site, but I am sure I knew that at one time. I will see if I can't post the link on my profile page for anyone interested. Also, as far as word count goes, last chapter was my longest to date. Thanks to all who took the time to review!**

A few birds chirped as Arthur and Ariadne walked leisurely towards Ariadne's boarding house. A warm breeze blew Ariadne's hair and she brushed away the loose strands of hair that had blown into her eyes. The evening was a perfect one for a walk she thought as she admired her surroundings, Arthur included, though she tried to be as covert about her stolen glances as she could.

"So, it seems like maybe we caught a break, huh," Ariadne finally offered in order to fill the silence.

"Yeah, it does," Arthur's tone was reserved, his hands now resting on the front pockets of his pants. He seemed lost in thought.

"You sceptical?" Ariadne inquired trying to get into Arthur's head for once. The point man finally turned his attention to Ariadne as he ran his hands through his hair.

"I just don't want to get too comfortable. We can't afford any mistakes. Cobol is probably one of the most dangerous employers Cobb and I ever had. They've already killed Nash, and possibly Cobb. I would hate to lose anyone else," Arthur's eyes focused intently on Ariadne as he spoke the last part.

"I know there's huge risks Arthur, but this is something I have to do!" Ariadne firmly replied, sensing where the conversation was going.

"I just hope you're not doing it because of your obsession with creating fantasy worlds," Arthur warned.

"I am doing this because I want to help Cobb!" Ariadne snapped angrily. "It has nothing to do with 'playing God!'"

"Okay," Arthur replied sounding unconvinced.

Ariadne pursed her lips in frustration before finally replying to Arthur. "You know what, I can find my own way from here, thanks," she barked as she quickened her pace.

"Why are you upset with me?" Arthur asked as he quickened his own pace to match hers. Ariadne glanced at Arthur in disbelief as he caught up to her.

When she saw he was actually waiting for a response she finally replied, "Because it feels like you're constantly questioning my motives for helping you. You seem to think the only reason I'd want in on this job is to quench my own selfish thirst for creation or something. I just don't understand why the idea that I want to actually help Cobb is such a foreign concept to you!" she cried in frustration. The girl then spun and jogged a few feet to once again put some distance between Arthur and her.

"Ariadne, I'm sorry! I just want to make sure you aren't getting involved in an extremely dangerous situation for the wrong reasons!" Arthur pleaded, not bothering to close the distance between the two just yet.

The architect shook her head before turning back to face Arthur briefly. She seemed to blink away tears of exasperation that were threatening to fall and gave a kind of choked sob/laugh before responding to Arthur.

"I think you should just go Arthur! I'll just home and work on my mazes some more. Unless you really don't want me helping you guys, because I'm starting to get that impression!" she retorted crossly and turned to continue her trek home.

Arthur getting angry as well finally closed the small gap between the two and grasped Ariadne by her shoulders spinning her to face him.

"Stop it! Of course I want your help, you're the best architect I've ever seen! Even Cobb admitted that! I'd be stupid NOT to accept your help! All I'm saying is things could get dangerous and I want to make sure you understand that! Just because the Fischer job was successful I think that you have some sort of unrealistic notion that extraction, inception even, is not that difficult, or dangerous! But it fucking is! Do you understand me Ariadne? These people will kill us, if we fail and our caught!" Arthur yelled angrily, his grip on Ariadne's shoulders now painfully tight.

Ariadne just shook her head as she tried to focus her gaze anywhere else but on Arthur. She didn't know what to say, or what to make of Arthur's outburst, her anger and annoyance momentarily clouding her logical thought processes.

Arthur, finally regaining his composure, loosened his grip on Ariadne. The girl swallowed and as her frustration dissipated she noticed that they were now just outside her boarding house.

"I'll be in touch," Arthur whispered as he turned to leave, his hands falling from the young woman's shoulders. Ariadne, without thinking, instinctively reached for Arthur before he could get too far away. The point man turned back when he felt her fingers brush his arm. Ariadne then reached up and wrapped a hand around his neck pulling him down so that their lips could meet. Arthur's own arms wrapped around Ariadne's slight form as he deepened the kiss. After a few moments the two broke apart breathless.

Ariadne stepped out of Arthur's embrace and turned quickly to head up the path to the front door of her place; however, she turned back to Arthur briefly before going inside.

"And just so you know, I'm not some sort of masochist. I don't go for that beating me up and then making out with me thing," Ariadne called.

Arthur chuckled and shook his head, "I'll be in touch," he repeated firmly and headed back in the direction the two had come from.

As Ariadne turned to go inside she thought she saw the front entrance curtains flutter as though someone had just brushed past them. The girl shrugged her shoulders. _Probably one of the other residents seeing what the commotion was all about _thought Ariadne.

_Let them watch_ she thought to herself, a grin etching itself onto her face as she recalled her and Arthur's kiss. She opened the door and stepped inside. She had a lot of work to do.

**Note: Well just a short chapter this time, but I felt like if I combined it with the next chapter that the moment between Arthur and Ariadne would not get the focus it deserved. Hope you enjoyed please review!**


	9. Chapter 9: Job Details

**Extraction**

**Chapter 9: Job Details**

**Note: I do not own Inception. Also, I don't really get into the aftermath of the kiss in this chapter, but I can promise you we'll get into Arthur and Ariadne's heads later.**

It had been less than a week since Arthur had declared that the team would try to extract from Thomas Leeson any information concerning the whereabouts of Dominic Cobb. Finally, the team was meeting up to go over some final details.

"Our subject is Thomas Frederick Leeson," Arthur informed his team, though they already knew this. He handed a recent photograph of Leeson to Ariadne who, after studying the picture, handed it off to Yusuf.

"He's the son of a mechanic and grew up in Vancouver, British Columbia. Nothing much came back on Leeson's old man, had a few drug charges, but nothing too serious. Leeson has a brother, two years younger, but he seems to have a legitimate job as a real estate agent. Leeson, on the other hand, had a troubled childhood. He was in and out of various juvenile detention centres for a variety of reasons: battery, armed robbery, and so on," Arthur informed his team.

"Then, not surprisingly, he found himself in trouble with the law when he reached adulthood. Again, for armed robbery, then solicitation, sexual assault and so on."

"A rather pleasant sounding fellow, can't wait to get inside his head," Eames joked as he puffed on a cigarette near the open window of Arthur's hotel room.

"Despite all this, Leeson and his family seem pretty close: Father always ready to bail his kid out of prison, brother showing up to every court date, that sort of thing," Arthur continued as he handed out pictures of both Leeson's father and brother for the team to analyze.

"Until recently Leeson has never held down a job for more than a few months at a time, and he's done everything from packing groceries, to working in half-way houses. However, for the last few years, he's held a rather menial job with a waste disposal company. No complaints, no more run-ins with the law. He just appears to be walking the straight and narrow," Arthur explained, disbelief in his voice as he uttered the last part.

"Cobol recruited him in the last few years then?" Ariadne asked even though she was pretty sure she knew the answer.

"Obviously there's no real record of him working for Cobol, but we have our buddy Paul's testimony that he's seen Leeson around Cobol. Also, he's made some pretty interesting big ticket cash purchases in the last few years. For instance, two expensive foreign cars, a house in Hawaii, some designer clothes," Arthur explained in answer to Ariadne's question.

"Why would these expensive purchases only be recent if he's been working for Cobol for some time?" Yusuf asked as he set the photos of Leeson and his family on the table beside him.

"Could be a number of reasons for that," Arthur said as he retrieved the photos from beside Yusuf and tucked them in a file folder.

"Yes, for instance he may not have wanted to draw attention to himself during his early days with Cobol because he was known to police. Large cash purchases might have raised the suspicions of authorities," Eames explained.

"Exactly," Arthur agreed.

"How refreshing it is to have you agree with me on something Arthur," Eames joked. Arthur sent the forger a glare before continuing.

"It also could suggest that Cobol has recently promoted Leeson. A bigger payday usually comes with a promotion."

Yusuf nodded as he absorbed this information.

"Hence, Eames' logic for us to go into Leeson's mind to begin with, because the guy running the off the record deals is the one who can probably tell us what happened to Cobb. If Cobol had something to do with his disappearance," Ariadne mused, speaking her thoughts out loud.

"Exactly," Arthur agreed.

"So, when and how is the extraction going to take place?" Yusuf asked.

"The extraction will take place in three days time," Arthur informed the team as he tossed a worn calendar on the large bed for everyone to see. The date of the extraction was circled in red.

"Leeson has booked a flight from New York to Vancouver -" Eames began, but Ariadne cut him off.

"Another plane! Honestly, is that the only way for these jobs to go down - " Eames then cut Ariadne off.

" As I was saying," he sent a stern look Ariadne's way, who suddenly got very interested in the calendar Arthur had tossed on the bed. "Leeson has booked a flight from New York to Vancouver. Seems he's going to attend his little brother's wedding."

"Eames has already set us up with false identities. We'll be working as food servers for the company catering the wedding. After everyone's been fed, there'll be the usual speeches and alcohol, dancing etc. It's during these later festivities that we'll lure Leeson away and then perform the extraction," explained Arthur.

"The wedding reception is being held at a downtown hotel. The wedding party has booked a floor of the hotel for their out-of-town guests," said Eames. Arthur now tossed some photos of the hotel on the bed.

"How will we lure him away with all those people around?" Ariadne asked. "Like we did with Paul at the Eiffel tower?"

"No, a certain young catering girl is going to lead a rather intoxicated Leeson up to his room because that certainly won't raise the suspicions of any of the wedding or hotel guests," Eames explained as he raised his eyebrows suggestively at Ariadne.

"Plus, with the rest of the wedding guests partying downstairs into the wee hours, we'll more than likely have until noon the next day before anyone will bother looking for Leeson," Arthur said before continuing. "Not that we'll need that much time. I estimate we'll only need a few hours to complete the extraction at most."

"Wait, what is this about a young catering girl leading Leeson up to his rooms?" Ariadne asked brow furrowing in confusion and alarm.

Eames grinned. "Well darling that is where you come in. After Leeson's had a few all you gotta do is stumble in his path and make a few flirtatious suggestions and he'll whisk you off to his rooms above. Then you'll convince him to take a sedative. Tell him it's some kind of new sex drug or whatever," Eames explained simply.

"Why can't we just ambush him on the plane ride, like we did on the Fischer job?" Ariadne asked, though it sounded more like a plea.

"Because darling, that was a very expensive endeavour," Eames replied as he flicked his cigarette butt in the trashcan. Both Ariadne and Arthur glanced at the trashcan vaguely concerned about it starting on fire.

"As you'll recall Saito bought the airline to avoid any unforeseen complications," Arthur continued to further Eames' point.

"Ok, whatever," Ariadne relented. "But this conversation is not over!" She said firmly. "So, anyway, then we put Leeson under, and we end up on the first dream level, which is the maze you had me design on top of those hotel specs you gave me," the architect continued. Arthur nodded.

"And I'll be the dreamer on the first layer correct?" Yusuf asked.

"Yes, you'll be the dreamer, and Leeson will be our subject whose projections will fill your dream world," Arthur clarified for the team.

"Anyway, the dream will take place in Leeson's hotel bedroom," Arthur continued. "We'll have you there, Ariadne, pretending as though the two of you have just finished having-" Ariadne cut Arthur off.

"Oh no! There is no way I'm doing that! I already doubt I'll be able to flirt my way upstairs with Leeson, never mind continue my awkward flirting attempts in the unstable environment of a dream!" Ariadne cried shaking her head emphatically. She couldn't believe what she was hearing, was Arthur really all right with this plan?

"Come on, it won't be that difficult! The guy is going to be looking for any excuse to get a girl up to his room, trust me," Eames remarked trying to calm the young woman's fears.

"I don't flirt, ok! I'm not one of those girly girls. I can guarantee you this extraction attempt will fail if we send me in there!"

"Ok, ok calm down," Arthur soothed while motioning for Ariadne to sit back down in her chair. The architect couldn't remember having jumped out of her seat, but apparently she had and so sheepishly sat back down.

"Eames, what if we have you pose as Ariadne in the dream?" Arthur asked.

"I think the girl can do it, if she just puts her mind to it," Eames began, and held up a hand when he saw Ariadne was going to begin protesting again. "However, I am comfortable enough with my sexuality to say I have no problem posing as Ariadne and flirting it up with Leeson in the first dream level," he finished.

"Ok then. So, we'll have Eames flirt with Leeson. Eventually steering the conversation towards dream extraction. This will automatically trigger Leeson's thoughts towards Cobb and our extraction job for Cobol," explained Arthur.

"This will undoubtedly put Leeson on edge. So, at this point myself, Yusuf, and I guess now Ariadne, will barge into the room and force Leeson to go under a second time," Arthur finished.

"At which point we will actually be entering the second layer of the dream," Yusuf clarified.

Eames nodded. "Yes, this time Ariadne will be the dreamer with Leeson still as our subject, obviously."

"This dream will be the corporate building maze, you had me design," Ariadne said.

"Exactly. Leeson will be on edge, thinking we are trying to get information regarding Cobol from him. Hence, the corporate environment," Arthur confirmed.

"So, the safe in the building will already begin to fill with Cobol secrets, especially those concerning any involvement Cobol has had with extractors," said Ariadne.

Arthur nodded, "We'll then need to begin the filtering process. Eames and myself will begin to question Leeson, asking him about Nash and then eventually Cobb. Thus, the secrets in the safe will begin to diminish until only those concerning Cobb are there."

"Also, he'll undoubtedly bring his own projection of Ariadne into our interrogation situation as well, as his own subconscious will suspect her of being the one who set him up for extraction during the first layer of our dream, but what Leeson will think was reality," Eames continued further.

"So, his own subconscious will begin to interrogate itself?" Ariadne asked.

"Yes, Cobb and I have used this technique in the past. His own projection will begin questioning him and start asking the 'right' questions and ultimately tell us the information we want to hear," Arthur confirmed.

"Why would it do that though? I mean how can you be sure his projection will begin to spoon-feed us what we want to hear?" asked Ariadne.

"Well we suspect this technique will work in this particular case because: first, Cobol is an incredibly dangerous company, as Leeson will well know, so you don't want to screw them over. Second, if Leeson's more recent large purchases are any indication he's only recently moved up the ladder at Cobol-" Eames quickly butt in cutting Arthur off.

"So, he'll recall what sort of punishment befell the man who held his position before him."

"So, he'll be even more on edge than usual and then ultimately tell us what we want to know," Yusuf finished.

"Wait, so what if he's on edge? I still don't understand how his own projection is going to ask him the 'right' questions," Ariadne said as she made little quote signs with her fingers around the word 'right.'

"He'll be so worried about us extracting information from him that his projection will begin to tell us exactly what he doesn't want us to hear," Eames tried again to explain their logic to the architect.

"Ok," Ariadne said slowly trying to wrap her head around the idea. "I guess it sounds like a pretty solid plan, if everything goes as you say it will," Ariadne finally mused.

"Well these things rarely go exactly as planned. I mean you can only plan for so much and then you just have to wing it," Eames said.

"So, if his subconscious is going to tell us everything we want to hear then why did we need a safe?" Ariadne asked.

"The safe is our back up. If it turns out Leeson's own subconscious doesn't tell us what we want to know, then we can still just break into the safe and steal the information we want," Arthur explained. Ariadne nodded slowly.

"But we want to avoid breaking into the safe then?" she asked

"Yes, once you break into the safe you still have to read the contents and the subject almost always can sense the minute you are tampering with the safe. So, their projections will begin to converge on you," clarified Arthur.

"So, let's say we do find out Cobb is still alive, and that Leeson can give us information regarding his whereabouts. We'll still have to get to Cobb and free him from Cobol's clutches. Who's to say Leeson won't wake up and not believe it was all just a dream? Say he decides to send word to Cobol to move Cobb before we can get to him?" Yusuf asked.

"Well, that's why we'll have to move fast trying to complete the extraction as quickly as possible. It is also quite frankly why I wanted you on this job Yusuf. I want to make sure Leeson is sedated well into the next day, giving us time to act on whatever information we steal from his subconscious. Also, like I already mentioned, with everyone being drunk from the wedding reception the night before I doubt anyone will check in on Leeson until noon the following the morning anyway. So, the quicker we execute the extraction, the more time we have to get to Cobb before Leeson tips anyone off about the possibility of any foul play," Arthur stated.

"That's of course if Leeson actually has any information regarding Cobb," Ariadne finally said. "What if it turns out he doesn't know anything? We'll have completely blown any chance we have of finding Cobb."

"I am positive Leeson is going to know something," Eames said with such conviction that Ariadne truly wanted to believe him.

"I agree," Arthur said.

"Twice in one day, Arthur I think our time together these past several days has really brought us closer," Eames joked. Arthur gave Eames an unimpressed sort of glare.

"So, you're sure this time that the subject has had no extractor teach his subconscious how to defend itself from invaders?" Yusuf asked Arthur, breaking up the moment between the point man and forger.

"God! I screw up once and you people just can't let me live it down can you!" Arthur shouted kicking at a nearby chair. Yusuf leaned back in his own chair to put more distance between himself and the point man.

"I've been giving him a pretty hard time about that over the last few days," Eames whispered in Yusuf's direction. "It's nothing personal against you," the forger reassured the chemist.

**Note: Well there you have it people. That is how the extraction is going to go down. Please Review. **


	10. Chapter 10: Unexpected Visitors Part 1

**Extraction**

**Chapter 10: Unexpected Visitors**

**Note: I do not own Inception. Thank you to everyone who took the time to review I was feeling lazy and didn't want to edit this chapter, but your reviews gave me a burst of energy and so this chapter is posted thanks to you guys!**

Ariadne's bedroom floor was no longer littered with half constructed mazes, but instead with clothing. She was trying to decide what to pack for the team's trip to Vancouver. Arthur had said to pack lightly, as they wouldn't be gone long.

_Arthur_.

Ariadne thought the name wistfully. The two of them had been so busy for the last several days that there really had been no down time to discuss anything except work. Any of the times the two had been alone together Arthur had kept the conversation strictly professional.

There had been no light heartedness, even when Ariadne had attempted to bring up their running joke from the Eiffel Tower. Ariadne couldn't help but feel that whatever progress they had made in the way of their relationship, if they even had one, seemed to have been put on hold until they had completed the extraction and found Cobb.

This no non-sense, business first pleasure later, Arthur had been the one she had gotten to know on the Fischer job. Not that she had had an extensive amount of time to get to know Arthur on the Fischer job.

Ariadne sighed, pushing some clothes out of her path with her feet as she made her way to her closet again. _What possessed me to kiss Arthur that night?_ She asked herself for the millionth time. Obviously, things had not been going well on the walk. In fact, she could still recall the frustration and anger she felt towards Arthur that night for questioning her friendship with Cobb and it still made her want to smack some sense into the man . . . but still.

Somehow, when he was leaving, the way he said he'd 'be in touch'. There had been something in his voice, something about the way he said those words as he turned to leave that had panicked her. Something instinctual that had cried out to her saying_ you can't just let him go_. So, she had reached for him. She could still recall how her fingers had just barely brushed his arm. In fact, she was pretty sure they had more grazed his shirt than even his arm, but it had been enough.

There had been some sort of connection. Ariadne was sure of it, because Arthur had turned back and then she . . . well it was a blur. She couldn't recall how the kiss itself had happened. She thought she could remember reaching for Arthur's neck to pull him towards her, but she wasn't sure if she was remembering that correctly. _I'm sure I didn't imagine Arthur kissing me back_ Ariadne huffed as she tossed another shirt to the floor. _No_, she reaffirmed to herself _I remember clearly his arms wrapping around me of their own volition. _

So, then did he regret kissing her back? _No_, she thought to herself, she was sure he had smiled afterwards _and it hadn't seem like a polite forced smile either_ she thought firmly. But if that were the case then why was he all business these past few days? It wasn't like she had been expecting him to walk up to her and be like 'hey that was an excellent kiss we shared the other night,' but she had thought maybe it would have led to at least another kiss, maybe a brief peck on the cheek at the very least, but nothing.

_I guess I could have initiated something_ the girl thought as she tossed a couple pairs of clean socks into her overnight bag. _But he hadn't made himself very approachable_ she thought with a sigh.

"Ug," the architect groaned aloud as she took in the mess around her, feeling a little overwhelmed. "When did my life turn into a pathetic teenage drama series?" she asked her empty room. "Next Week on Dream Stealers: Ariadne actually grows a pair and confronts Arthur about their forbidden kiss. Will he reject her? Tune in next week to find out!" The architect mumbled as she continued to look for clean underwear.

"Ok," the girl declared at last, deciding to take note of what she packed so far. "Socks and underwear, check. Bra . . . check. Toothbrush, hairbrush, and toothpaste, yes, yes, and yes."

Ariadne then placed a wad of cash that she had withdrawn from her bank account earlier that morning, into the side pouch of her bag. She glanced at her watch, the guys would be by soon to pick her up she had to hurry up her packing. She couldn't afford to moan and groan around about Arthur anymore, she had a job to do and needed to focus on it. She could worry about her love life later, once Cobb was home safe with kids, because Ariadne truly believed Cobb was alive still. She had to . . .

So, she shook her head and re-focused herself to complete the task at hand, packing. She began rifling through a pile of jeans, when she was interrupted by a soft knock on her bedroom door.

"Yes," she called slightly annoyed, hoping it wasn't one of her housemates looking to borrow something again. The door squeaked open and Mrs. Dufour popped her head inside.

"Ariadne you have visitors," the elderly woman said softly as she stepped out of the room leaving the door open.

"You're early-" Ariadne began to complain, but stopped mid-sentence when she saw her parents entering her room.

"Oh sweetie!" her mom wailed as she ran towards her daughter and enveloped her in a crushing hug.

"Mom?" Ariadne asked surprised, her pile of jeans momentarily forgotten.

"Are you alright honey?" her mother asked, finally releasing her daughter from her iron grip hug and pushing her back to arms length so she could get a good look at her daughter.

"Of course I'm alright. Why wouldn't I be? And shouldn't you two be in Holland or something for another week?" Ariadne asked squirming out of her mother's grasp. Ariadne returned to her pile of jeans and quickly picked up a pair of dark wash skinny jeans, which she laid on her bed.

"Yes, but Mrs. Dufour called us. She said she was worried about you, honey!" her mother said soothingly.

"She said you've taken a leave of absence from school! And that some boy has shown up here and that she saw the two of you arguing outside the building several days ago!" her father began to rant. It was obvious he was angry, but was trying to keep his emotions in check. _Wonderful of Mrs. Dufour to keep my parents up to date_ Ariadne thought sarcastically as she rolled her eyes.

"She said she saw him grab you very roughly honey! She said you looked terrified," her mother cried placing a hand on her daughter's shoulder. Ariadne shrugged her mother's hand off her shoulder and went over to her closet and began looking through her t-shirts, again.

"Is that what Mrs. Dufour said?" Ariadne asked dryly trying to buy time to compose herself enough to commit herself to the lies that she was going to have to feed to her parents, yet again. Ariadne pulled a plain navy scoop neck t-shirt from her closet and tossed it beside her jeans on the bed.

"Yes, honey," her mother finally responded to urge her daughter on.

"Well, I did have an argument with a guy outside a few nights ago, but it was nothing," Ariadne said allowing her eyes to drift over to were her parents stood.

They were obviously not buying the story so far. " Look, it was just stupid stuff, and he hardly 'grabbed me roughly'" Ariadne made little quote symbols with her fingers allowing sarcasm to drip into her voice.

"And I wouldn't say I was terrified. I was angry at him, and to be honest I don't even remember what we were fighting about anymore," she said trying to brush the experience off, so that she wouldn't have to begin spinning an even larger web of lies.

Ariadne pulled a white and beige striped scarf from a box in her closet and put it by the clothes on her bed. She grabbed a brown leather jacket from her desk chair and then got on her hands and knees to look under her bed for a pair of shoes. _Something practical and comfy, but also stylish_ she thought to herself as she pushed the upper half of her body under her dusty bed.

"Ariadne, Mrs. Dufour told us, that this boy's name is Arthur, and we got in contact with that friend of yours you introduced us to, Sara. She said you told her that this Arthur Smith was from the work placement Professor Miles had set you up with a few months ago. She said he was offering you another job," her mother continued gently.

"Mrs. Dufour also mentioned that this boy Arthur was a mutual friend with a friend of yours that has gone missing and that you're trying to help the police find this missing friend?" her mother asked obviously very confused.

"Ariadne, we didn't want to question you because you've always been honest with us before, but we had our suspicions before and now with Mrs. Dufour voicing her concerns we can't turn a blind eye any longer! How did you afford to send us on an all-inclusive European tour? What kind of work placement did Professor Miles set you up with? What friend of yours is missing? What is going on here?" her father's voice boomed.

Ariadne finally found the white flats she had been searching for under her bed and emerged with them in hand. She then dusted herself off and placed the shoes with the pile of clothes on her bed.

"Yeah, Arthur is another employee from the job I had few months; the job where I drew up mazes and stuff for video games. I told you guys all about this! I created mazes for video game characters to go through. Arthur did research for the game, you know, so it's more believable! I already explained all this. The gig paid extremely well because it was a Japanese corporation, and everyone knows Japanese video game companies are like richer than some countries!" Ariadne snapped impatiently as she scooped the clothes from her bed up into her arms.

"Why are you packing?" her mother finally asked noticing the bag on her bed for the first time.

"Like Sara told you, Arthur came to recruit me for another job. He heard about another opportunity, just like a freelance gig, where you spend a weekend at this convention in Vancouver and bounce some ideas to some more videogame corporation bigwigs and if they take your ideas they give you a nice paycheque," Ariadne snapped as she glanced at her watch again.

"So, I'm packing because I'm actually heading off to airport in about five minutes to head to Vancouver for this freelance thing."

"Ariadne," her mother began, tears threatening to pour out of her eyes.

"I've got to go change," Ariadne barked as she hugged the clothes she was holding tighter and headed for the bathroom.

"Ariadne!" her father shouted after her retreating form, but she just continued to hurry to the bathroom and locked herself in. She took her time changing. She fixed her make-up and then ran a brush through her hair, before finally returning to her room to face her parents.

"Have you really taken a leave of absence from school?" her mother asked, no longer near tears, as Ariadne re-entered her bedroom.

"Yes."

"Why?" her father asked his face red, probably from the effort of trying to keep himself calm and rational.

"Because, it's been really difficult and stressful lately and . . . I don't know. I really liked the job with the videogame company and was considering maybe taking a break to just work for awhile and finish my schooling a little later," she explained.

"And when Arthur showed up with another opportunity to work, I decided to jump on it and put in my request for a leave of absence. It seemed like a sign," Ariadne continued, trying to act indifferent and carefree to keep her parents calm.

"And this missing friend Mrs. Dufour mentioned?" her father pressed, his face going redder.

"This person wasn't really a friend, more of an acquaintance, someone I worked with-" Ariadne began.

"At the videogame company," her father remarked dryly, obviously not buying his daughter's story.

"Yes. At the videogame company," Ariadne replied firmly. "Anyway, this acquaintance didn't make it home to his family in the states after we all went our separate ways. So, his family issued a missing persons report and both Arthur and I were contacted by the police about his disappearance about a week or so ago and we promised to give them any information if we heard anything about this missing guy."

"Ariadne, I think we need to get you home," her mother began softly.

"Exactly!" her father growled. "Back in a familiar environment we will get to the bottom of all of this! I'd also like to meet with this professor who set you up with this videogame job!" he shouted, his anger level rising again.

"Look, I've already made commitments. I'll go home if you like after this convention in Vancouver, but I have to go," Ariadne said firmly leaving no room for debate.

"You most certainly are not going anywhere, but home!" her father boomed, laying down the law.

"Well I'm not a child anymore and as I'm well over the age of majority in every country, you cannot force me to go home! I am an adult! Now I am telling you I have commitments for the weekend, but I will be happy to compromise with you and go home after the convention!" Ariadne shook as she tried to keep herself calm. She wanted to appear like a well-controlled adult and not an emotional child to prove her point.

"Well, Miss Adult, consider this an intervention! There is obviously something very much amiss here and we are not just letting you go off to some convention, which I don't believe even exists!" her father yelled.

"Honey," Ariadne's mother placed a comforting hand on her husband's shoulder to calm him.

"Ariadne, we are very concerned about you. Now, can't you just come home? Just humour us please! We'll feel so much better if you just come home now and I'll be very happy when you prove us wrong and our fears unfounded," her mother begged. Ariadne shook her head in disbelief.

At that moment there was a light knock at the door before it was opened and Arthur stepped into the room.

"Ariadne are you ready . . ." Arthur trailed off when he saw the scene before him. Ariadne's father stood by her bed, face bright red, livid with anger, and her mother stood by her husband teary eyed and frail looking.

"Is this a bad time?" Arthur asked already beginning to back out of the room.

**Note: I thought about just finishing this whole scene up in one chapter, but then I thought I would be evil and split it into two chapters. So, you'll have to wait until tomorrow to see how this all plays out.**


	11. Chapter 11: Unexpected Visitors Part 2

**Extraction**

**Chapter 11: Unexpected Visitors Part 2**

**Note: I do not own Inception. Thank you to everyone who reviewed! Last chapter tied with Chapter 8 for the most reviews ever (six). Can we get seven for this chapter?**

"Are you Arthur Smith?" Ariadne's father demanded before Arthur could completely back out of the room.

"Depends on who's asking," Arthur replied defensively as he slowly re-entered the room. Ariadne just shook her head. _This seriously isn't happening_ she thought to herself as she reached into her jacket pocket to squeeze her totem.

_Damn._

She released her totem, letting it fall back into her pocket. Apparently this situation wasn't some sort of cruel nightmare Eames had cooked up. It was just fate being evil as usual.

"I demand that you answer me!" Ariadne's father bellowed, as a vein on his neck pulsed dangerously.

"Clam down Dad!" Ariadne snapped, trying to regain control of the situation. "Arthur, this is my Dad, Dad this is Arthur," Ariadne quickly introduced in the hopes of calming her father who looked ready to go completely postal on them.

"Pleasure," Arthur replied dryly. He then indicated his watch to Ariadne who nodded in understanding, but motioned to her parents. The move did not go unnoticed by Ariadne's father.

"You better just go to your convention by yourself, boy," her father sneered, "because my daughter is not going anywhere with you!" Ariadne rolled her eyes. So, they were back to that were they?

Arthur gave the man a look full of both disbelief and confusion before flicking his gaze to Ariadne who shook her head and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"We've already gone over this, you can't force me to stay here!" Ariadne cried sounding exhausted.

The architect then turned to address Arthur. "My parents have allowed my dotty old landlady to convince them that something sinister is going on here and that that job we did together wasn't actually for a videogame company, but for . . . I don't even know what!" Ariadne shook her head trying to get her parents to see that they were overreacting. Even though they technically weren't.

Arthur laughed good-naturedly, but Ariadne could tell his mind was already at work trying to think of a way he could talk them out of this situation. _He certainly can make it worse than I already have_ Ariadne thought.

"I can assure you two, that nothing 'sinister' is afoot here. Ariadne and I worked together-" Ariadne's father cut Arthur off abruptly.

"I'm not interested in what you have to say young man! So, I suggest you just get out of here and never contact my daughter again!" he roared as he took a threatening step towards Arthur, whose own response was to stand his ground more firmly.

Ariadne's mother intervened yet again, placing a shaking hand on her husband's arm. "I'm sorry if we seem paranoid to you Mr. Smith," she was obviously addressing Arthur, "but some things with our daughter just seem a little off to us and we just want to get her home for awhile to put our mind's at ease."

"What is there to put at ease? I've already answered all of your questions!" Ariadne snapped. Ariadne's father opened his mouth to respond, obviously about to go off on another tirade when a familiar voice from the hall interrupted him.

"What is going up here? Is everyone decent?" Eames called as he headed up the staircase. Ariadne's parents shot quizzical glances in Ariadne's direction, the girl just inwardly groaned and momentarily buried her face in her hands. Arthur looked ready to burst out laughing despite the situation he found himself in.

"Come now Arthur, I thought you had more self-control than that. We really don't have time for you to have a quickie before . . ." Eames trailed off as he entered Ariadne's bedroom and took in the situation. The forger's body went rigid and his face took on a stony expression as he readied himself for whatever was about to happen.

"Who is this?" Ariadne's father asked sounding more exasperated now than angry. Ariadne dropped her hands to her sides and took a deep breath getting ready to barge her way out of her room.

"This is ridiculous! I need to leave! I will contact you after my conference in Vancouver!" Ariadne bellowed as she moved towards her bed and grabbed her bag. She flung the small overnight bag over her shoulder and spun to exit the room. However, her father was not going to let her go so easily. He quickly grabbed his daughter's arm before she could escape and tugged her back towards him and Ariadne's mother.

"You aren't leaving Ariadne!" he boomed though it sounded as though he were almost pleading.

"You need to take your hands off of her right now!" Arthur declared fervently as he strode over to the father and daughter, his expression taut.

"Whoa whoa, let's just take this down a notch people," Eames said calmly trying to diffuse the situation, though there was a certain edge to his voice. The forger did not like where things seemed to be going.

"You need to let me go," Ariadne pleaded, her words holding a double meaning. Her father tried to stare her down, but Ariadne refused to give in. Ariadne's father's eyes flicked to the determined Arthur now standing beside Ariadne looking ready to take extreme measures if that was what the situation called for.

The older man glanced at the other man who had just entered the room. Though he was just standing near the entrance of the room, he looked tense and ready to pounce into action as well, if the situation called for it. Finally, Ariadne's father relented and released his grasp on his daughter.

"I'll call you," Ariadne promised. Eames quickly exited the room and Arthur placed a hand protectively on the small of Ariadne's back as he led her towards the exit too.

"Be safe!" her mother finally choked out. Arthur stopped briefly and turned back to address Ariadne's distressed mother.

"I promise I'll keep your daughter safe," he said the words with such conviction that Ariadne doubted even her father could deny the truth behind them. He then turned and the two exited the boarding house. They hurried into the cab waiting outside, which sped off in the direction of the airport as soon as Ariadne and Arthur were inside.

"Well that was exciting," Eames commented sarcastically.

"That was a nightmare! How do you guys feel about tying to implant the idea into my parents' heads that they can trust their daughter and that they have no reason to doubt her!"

"I doubt it'd stick," Arthur replied, earning a grin from both Ariadne and Eames. Yusuf looked back at the three from the front seat of the taxi looking confused. Eames just shook his head at the man as if to say it wasn't important. Yusf just shook his head in confusion and turned back around in his seat.

**Note: Well just a short chapter this time, but I hope you enjoyed it! Thank you to everyone who has added me to his or her Story/Author alert and Favourite Story/Author lists! Please Review!**


	12. Chapter 12: Flirting

**Extraction**

**Chapter 12: Flirting**

**Note: I do not own Inception. Also, just note that a few of the words I have Leeson speak have an extra letter added to them that shouldn't be there on purpose. This is just my attempt at showing Leeson's speech is impaired due to excessive alcohol consumption.**

**Also, we broke review records! Both Chapter's 10 and 11 received the highest reviews to date (7 each)! Thank you to everyone who reviewed! I reward you by giving you the longest chapter to date!**

"I can't believe this! You guys tell me to pack light and then you go and bring giant duffle bags!" Ariadne complained as the team set their bags down in the hotel room they had rented for the night, just to hold their gear. The team's room was located on the floor below that of the wedding party and was serving as a sort of base of operations for the time being.

"Yeah well, we just wanted to be prepared," Eames explained as he pulled a rather impressive looking gun from the bag.

Ariadne's jaw literally dropped. "How did you guys get that stuff through security?"

"Airport security is honestly a joke, even with all the supposed tightening up they did due to the increasing number of terrorist attacks," said Arthur. Ariadne shook her head in disbelief as she stowed her own bag in a corner of the room.

"So, we should probably be getting downstairs to help the other caterers get the food ready shouldn't we?" Yusuf asked as he glanced at his wristwatch.

"Yeah, here's our uniforms," Eames said and proceeded to toss everyone the appropriate pieces of clothing and nametags.

Ariadne took her clothes to the only bathroom in the suite to change, leaving the boys to change out in the bedroom area. She flicked the lights on in the bathroom and took a deep breath to calm the butterflies in her stomach. She closed the door behind herself and tossed her clothes on the countertop.

The outfit was simple enough: black dress pants, with a white blouse, and a black vest with the catering company's name scrawled over the right breast pocket. Ariadne quickly stripped out of her jeans and t-shirt and began to tug the uniform on.

Luckily, the clothes fit not too bad, though how Eames knew what size Ariadne was was anybody's guess. The blouse was a little roomy in the chest area on Ariadne's small frame, but the black vest helped to hide this fact. The architect then slid her feet into the shiny black loafers that completed the outfit.

She frowned.

The shoes pinched her small toe a little, but she supposed they would stretch out as the night wore on, or just grow more annoying as a blister formed. Ariadne shrugged; there wasn't much she could do about that fact now. Maybe, she could get a band-aid from the front desk later to help cushion her toe. Ariadne then pulled her hair back into a ponytail, so it wouldn't get into the food she would be serving later.

The girl took a step back from the mirror to examine herself. She looked professional enough, there was no way anyway would suspect she was anything but a caterer. Ariadne then grabbed her nametag from the bathroom counter and attached it to her vest.

Ariadne took in a few more deep, calming breaths. _Everything is going to work out fine _she told herself. She exited the bathroom and saw the guys were already finished their own dressing and just waiting for her.

"Time to go," Arthur said, finally breaking the tense feeling hanging in the air. They all nodded and then steeled themselves for the task ahead – feeding ravenous wedding guests.

* * *

><p>Finally, the last of the wedding guests had been served their food. Ariadne wiped a hand across her brow, the crowded room felt sweltering to her. She took a quick sip of water before exiting the kitchen area and heading back out to the floor. Arthur exited the kitchen as well now. He came over to where Ariadne stood and handed her a large clear plastic tub.<p>

"Take this and begin collecting guest's dirty dishes," Arthur told her.

"Specifically making sure Leeson notices me, right?" Ariadne asked wryly.

Arthur nodded and hurried back to the kitchen as the sound of clattering dishes could be heard. Ariadne quickly moved towards the table the wedding party was situated at. She saw both Eames and Yusuf coming towards her with clear plastic tubs of their own. Obviously, they were going to begin clearing the tables near the one she would be at.

Even though she was just clearing dishes Ariadne felt better having the two men nearby. After all, Leeson did do Cobol's dirty work. Who knew just how bold he might get in public. After all, if his record was any indication he really didn't seen to care what the law said.

"Can I get those dirty dishes out of your way, sir?" Ariadne finally worked the courage up to say as she approached Leeson who was sitting next to his brother, the groom.

Leeson turned his big grinning head in Ariadne's direction and if it was possible his smile widened showing even more of his crooked yellow teeth. Ariadne tried not to cringe in response.

"You sure can cutie," he finally purred as he leaned back in his chair to give Ariadne space to take his dishes. As she reached over to get his plates she made sure to brush the side of her body against his ever so slightly. Then as she straightened to take the plate she 'accidentally' shifted the plate allowing the napkin that had been on the plate to fall into Leeson's lap.

"Opps," Ariadne giggled, which was more due to nerves than her flirting attempt and reached down to get Leeson's napkin. However, as her hand closed itself around the napkin Leeson's own hand came and squeezed her own. This cause Ariadne to gasp in surprise, but because she was so nervous it came out as a breathy sort of sound, which luckily only added to her flirting attempts.

"Anything else I can help you with?" Leeson asked.

Ariadne forced what she hoped was a seductive smile before replying, "I'm off in a couple of hours."

"Well you'll find me on the dance floor," Leeson whispered as he leaned towards Ariadne's ear. Ariadne tried not to back away, even though the man repulsed her.

"See you then," she whispered back, her words still sounding breathy, but only because she was on the verge of having a panic attack..

Ariadne then straightened, Leeson's napkin still in her hand and tossed it all into her plastic tub. She then continued down the table collecting more dishes. Casting what she hoped were flirtatious glances in Leeson's direction all the while.

Finally when her tub could hold no more dishes Ariadne left the wedding party table and began to head toward the kitchen. As she past by Eames he leaned in her direction to whisper, "You're a natural." Ariadne grinned at him in relief and then continued back to the kitchen.

Arthur was in the back already beginning to wash dishes with some of the other caterers. She set her tub of dirty dishes down by him and leaned in towards the point man's ear to inform him of her success.

"You missed my amazing performance, or at least Eames thought it was pretty good from where he was standing."

Ariadne then reached for a pair of rubber gloves to help Arthur. The girl had a big grin on her face, she was obviously proud of the way she had handled herself in Leeson's presence.

"Yeah, well, I didn't really want to see flirt with that guy," Arthur finally mumbled as he kept his eyes on the soapy water in front of him.

"Don't worry Arthur its just business," she jokingly reassured the point man. However, Arthur didn't laugh; he just scrubbed the pot he was working on harder. Ariadne gave him a confused look, but Arthur didn't seem to want to elaborate. Ariadne rolled her eyes in frustration and the two continued to wash dishes in silence.

* * *

><p>Eames returned to the kitchen with yet another empty drink tray, "Leeson has a pretty decent buzz. I've been making sure to offer him first dibs on every tray I've brought out there."<p>

"Then I guess I better get going," Ariadne muttered as she glanced at her watch. The night was not getting any younger.

"We'll head up to Leeson's room now. We'll be hiding in the bathroom, if it looks like Leeson isn't going to cooperate you just say the word and we'll take care of it," Arthur stated firmly, his gaze so intense it made Ariadne uncomfortable.

"Okay, but it's going to work! We have to believe that," Ariadne replied. Arthur nodded and opened his mouth as though to speak, but then stopped and hurried out of the kitchen instead.

Ariadne peeked out from the kitchen doorway and watched as the three took different exits out of the room. Eames pulling the spare room key card to Leeson's room out of his pocket as he left. Ariadne wasn't sure how the man had gotten a hold of the spare card, but she was impressed by his skills none-the-less.

Ariadne took a deep breath from the entrance to the kitchen. _I can do this_ she told herself before finally exiting the kitchen.

She scanned the dance floor and saw Leeson dancing with a girl who was most likely a cousin of the bride's, as she and the bride had some similar features. Ariadne grimaced in disgust, just because the girl was well endowed did not mean she was over 18.

_If Leeson stopped grinning against the girl's crotch for a minute and actually looked at her face he'd see how young she really was_ Ariadne thought disgustedly. Ariadne shook her head as she came back to reality and quickly wiped the look of repulsion off her face before any of the guests saw it. She was supposed to be mooning over Leeson.

Ariadne stood off to the side for a few more minutes planning her attack. She knew she wouldn't be able to compete with that girl, so she would have to wait for them to take a break. Finally, the girl said something to Leeson and two began exiting the dance floor.

_Please just let them be going to get something to drink_, Ariadne begged. Luckily they were heading towards a table and not the exit. The girl collapsed in a chair and removed her heels, giggling to one of the other girls at the table. Leeson left the giggling girl and went over to a group of men who were laughing and drinking off to the side, this was Ariadne's chance.

Just as Leeson had picked up a drink and began to situate himself with the group of men Ariadne hurried over.

"I didn't get your name earlier," she all but shouted as she approached, to be sure Leeson heard her over the music and the loud men. Leeson and some of the men in the group turned to look at Ariadne.

"Maywbe you could guessh it while we dancshe?" he suggested slurring his words as he took a long swig from his glass.

"I prefer to play guessing games in private," Ariadne replied trying to act coy.

"Aw a shwy one eh?" he joked, getting a few jeers and taunts from the men surrounding him.

"Or are you just too scared you won't be able to handle me without back up?" Ariadne taunted back playfully.

"Ohhh!" a few of the guys drawled, a couple slapped Leeson on the back.

"Baby, you havfe no idea whfat I can handwle," Leeson slurred as he got to his feet. He flung an arm unceremoniously around Ariadne's shoulders, putting more of his weight on her slender frame than she would have liked and began to lead her towards the exit.

Ariadne tried not to gag as they slowly made their way to the elevator. Leeson smelled strongly of whiskey, beer, and sweat. Finally, they got to the elevator and Leeson pressed the button for his floor. They soon stumbled their way to the door of his room. Leeson removed his arm from around her shoulder as he went to dig into his pocket for his key.

"Hey let me get it," Ariadne offered trying to keep a flirtatious air about herself as she slowly reached her hand down into Leeson's left front pocket. Lucky for her the key card was in that pocket and she didn't have to go digging in the other one too. She pulled it out slowly and then brought the card to her lips giving it a kiss, feeling like a fool in the process. Leeson, however, grinned like an idiot and Ariadne inserted the card into the door.

They were barely in the room when Leeson grabbed Ariadne and pushed her against the wall pressing a slobbery kiss clumsily on her mouth. Ariadne twisted her face away from the man's and finally managed to choke out a few words, "Why . . . don't . . . you . . ." Ariadne couldn't finish her sentence as Leeson's mouth was crushing back onto hers. The girl tried to swallow through the kiss as she could feel bile rising back up towards her mouth.

* * *

><p>"Do you hear anything?" Arthur whispered as both he and Eames leaned against the bathroom door with their ears pressed against it.<p>

"No, they must be making out," Eames replied quietly. Arthur's lips tightened noticeably. "Hey, you said you could handle this, didn't you?" Eames asked the man; well more reminded him. Arthur nodded though his expression was still stiff.

* * *

><p>Finally, Leeson pulled back, "Why dwon't I what?" he slurred grinning.<p>

"Why don't you go to the bed where we'll both be more comfortable," Ariadne suggested breathlessly. Trying to resist the urge to wipe her mouth with her hand.

"Swure babe," he said, tugging Ariadne along with him towards the bed. Leeson removed his shirt on the way. He then swung Ariadne around so she landed on the bed with a bounce. He then moved to position himself over top of her.

"Hey, what's the rush," Ariadne half giggled in a high-pitched tone, more out of fear than anything else.

Leeson luckily did stop long enough for Ariadne to squirm out from underneath him. She rolled off the bed and tried to put on a seductive smile. She then slowly unbuttoned her vest and tossed it aside.

Leeson grinned and unfortunately took this as an okay for him to remove his pants. Ariadne resisted the urge to close her eyes and instead reached into the pocket of her own pants taking out a small vile containing the sedative Yusuf had given her earlier.

"How about a drink?" she asked waving the little bottle in the air. She then went over to the mini-bar and pulled out a few small bottles. She grabbed a glass and poured the alcohol into two glasses and then poured the sedative into Leeson's glass and pretended to pour some into her own glass.

* * *

><p>"He has her on the bed!" Yusuf hissed. He had taken up Arthur's position by the bathroom door, while the point man nervously played with his hands as he sat on the countertop.<p>

"What's she saying?" Arthur finally asked coolly, trying, but failing, to appear aloof. It was obvious he was checking if she were asking for help.

"Let's see," Eames whispered as he strained to listen. "Oh baby that's the way-" Eames ducked as Arthur tossed a rolled up hand towel at him.

"Shut up! Leeson is going to hear you!" Arthur snapped angrily. Eames just grinned as he struggled to keep his laughter inside.

* * *

><p>"What is thwat?" Leeson asked getting off the bed. He was referring to the vial Ariadne had produced from her pocket.<p>

"A date rape drug," she replied sarcastically as she pressed the glass into his hand before he could come any closer to her.

"Seriously though, what it is?" he asked seeming to get a little more sober.

"I don't know, something one of the other girls on the catering team gave me. I told her I was going to hook up with the groom's sexy best man, and she said this would make the experience more enjoyable," Ariadne giggled as she took a long swig of her own drink, which Leeson would think contained the same drug as was in his.

Leeson finally laughed in amusement and took his glass back to the bed. He sat down on the edge spreading his legs wider than necessary. "I think I'd prefer my drink with a little show," he finally told her.

"ha ha" Ariadne forced a playful laugh, though it was a more nervous sounding laugh. "Of course."

* * *

><p>"Maybe we should stop things," Yusuf whispered.<p>

"Why? What's happening?" Eames asked. The forger was sitting on the edge of the bathtub having been banished from listening duty by Arthur who still sat on the counter by the sink.

"I think he's getting her to strip for him," Yusuf explained. Arthur jumped off the counter now. Eames jumped up from his spot too, but to stop Arthur from barging through the door.

"No!" Eames hissed. Yusuf just stood baring the door.

"Let go!" Arthur hissed quietly as he twisted out of Eames' grasp.

"She hasn't asked for help! So, we stick with the plan!" Eames snapped.

* * *

><p>Ariadne tried to keep a flirtatious look on her face, but in reality she was panicking. She had no idea how to do a strip tease! She was an architect for crying out loud and up until now a pretty nun-like architect. She had focused most of her attention on her schoolwork, not stripping for boys.<p>

She desperately wanted to call the guys in to just knock Leeson out, but she was pretty sure being asked to just take of your clothes didn't classify as an actual emergency. So, Ariadne gritted her teeth and set to work.

Clumsily, Ariadne began to un-button her blouse. Not that Ariadne was trying to impress Leeson or anything, but she was suddenly thrilled that she had opted to wear one of her newer bras for this little excursion. Ariadne's hands slipped on the tiny buttons with nervousness, but Leeson didn't seem to notice he just grinned and took a few long gulps from his drink.

Ariadne grinned now. It shouldn't take too much longer before Leeson was knocked out. Yusuf had told her the sedative was fast acting. Finally, Ariadne's blouse was completely unbuttoned and she tried to slowly, but sexily, remove the shirt.

Leeson leered as Ariadne put her hands on her hips shaking them a little, "Like what you see?" she purred. Leeson took a drink in response, finally finishing the concoction.

He stood up from the bed and stalked forward unsteadily, "I thfink . . . I bwetter help ywou . . . remove thwe rest of that clothfing . . . or we'll . . . be . . . hwere all night," he replied slowly, seeming a little shaky.

However, Leeson didn't get more than three paces towards Ariadne before he stumbled, his eyes closing as he fell face first to the floor with a thud.

Arthur, Eames and Yusuf were out of the bathroom in an instant. Yusuf had a suitcase in hand and was beginning to pull IV's out of it.

"Amazing job Ariadne," Eames congratulated as he rolled the sleeve on his shirt up.

Ariadne quickly grabbed her blouse from the floor and slipped it back on. However, there was no time to re-button it, so she simply tied the front so that it provided her at least some modest cover.

Arthur moved to the bed and laid down inserting an IV as he did so, he flicked his gaze covertly to Ariadne, but said nothing when the girl's eyes caught his own. Ariadne offered a smile to the point man, but he merely turned his head back towards the ceiling and closed his eyes.

Yusuf insert an IV into Leeson, and Eames handed Ariadne a needle before inserting one into his own arm as he slumped into a chair. Ariadne lay on the floor and inserted her own IV. In seconds she was drifting off.

**Note: Well they are finally going into Leeson's subconscious to get some answers about Cobb's whereabouts. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please review.**


	13. Chapter 13: First Dream

**Extraction**

**Chapter 13: First Dream**

**Note: I do not own Inception. Thank you to everyone who reviewed your comments were all very enjoyable!**

When Ariadne awoke she was in a hotel room similar to Leeson's, but it wasn't his room. It was the one next door. Well, technically the room next door wasn't Leeson's room either, as this entire dream sequence had been designed by Ariadne and was taking place in Yusuf's mind.

Ariadne had designed the wall connecting the two rooms to work as a one-way mirror. That way the group could see into the room that Leeson and Eames were in, but Leeson and Eames couldn't see them.

Ariadne glanced at the mirror wall and noted that Eames was already busy working his magic. Ariadne shivered, as it was unsettling to see Eames looking like her, but she had to give the forger credit he really was good at what he did.

His facial expressions and mannerism were very similar to Ariadne's and he had also obviously snuck a good enough look before they went under to be able to re-create Ariadne's almost naked top half with a great deal of realism. Ariadne narrowed her eyes at this, but tried to reason that it was all for the good of finding Cobb.

Ariadne was very relieved that she was no longer the one responsible for flirting with Leeson, reality had been more than enough for her. She didn't need to flirt with him in dreams too.

Ariadne flicked her eyes over to her teammates now. Yusuf leaned against the wall directly across from the one-way mirror with his arms crossed. He didn't appear to be looking at Eames and Leeson though, perhaps out of courtesy for the fact that Eames looked like a half-dressed Ariadne. Arthur, on the other hand, was sitting in a wooden chair on an angle so he had a good view of Eames. However, Ariadne wasn't sure if this was so Arthur wouldn't miss Eames' signal or if he was just taking advantage of the view, even if it wasn't really her.

_Stop being arrogant_ Ariadne chided herself. _Just because the two of us kissed, like once, doesn't mean he even wants to see me naked._ _Well, he is guy though _she reasoned.

Ariadne began to squirm uncomfortably as Eames moved to straddle Leeson. From this position it was apparent that Eames wasn't wearing pants, only a pair of black lace . . .Ariadne gasped covering her mouth in surprise.

"You don't have to watch this if you don't want to. I know it can be unsettling. Eames impersonated me in a dream once," Arthur said to Ariadne. The point man was still watching the scene intently.

"It's not that," Ariadne said shaking her head, though that was unsettling in itself. "I want to know how Eames knows what kind of underwear I am wearing right now!"

Yusuf covered his mouth to stifle a laugh, while Arthur turned his attention to Ariadne now, the real Adriadne.

"That's what you're wearing right now?" he asked incredulously. Ariadne blushed and then raised her hands as if to say 'what?'

"Let's focus people," Yusuf suggested, while still trying not to burst out laughing.

"Yeah, that's going to be really easy now," Arthur muttered as he turned his attention back to Eames. Had they been in any other situation Ariadne might have asked Arthur to elaborate on what he meant, but considering they were supposed to be working she decided to let the comment slide.

"There's the signal," Arthur said a few minutes later.

"He certainly didn't waste any time," Yusuf pointed out.

"Well we do want to get out of here as quickly as possible," Ariadne reminded the chemist as she pulled a black ski mask over her face, and Yusuf and Arthur did the same.

"Ariadne I don't suppose you can dream yourself to be a little taller and bulkier, could you?" Arthur asked.

"So, I look more like a guy?"

"Exactly, you'll be a little more intimidating," Arthur explained. Ariadne stifled a scoff, wanting to argue this point with Arthur, but decided that now probably wasn't the best time for petty arguments.

"I wish you had told me to practice this before, changing landscape is completely different from changing one's appearance!" Ariadne hissed as she tried to do as Arthur had instructed.

"It's not so different," Arthur corrected. Ariadne rolled her eyes, but continued to concentrate. After a few more moments she had completed her transformation. Yusuf gave Ariadne a thumb's up sign and the girl nodded her thanks.

"Let's move," Arthur cried as he handed Ariadne the suitcase with the sleep aid. The three then exited their room and made for the room next door, where Leeson and Eames were. However, at that moment, three of Leeson's projections rounded the far corner and began to walk swiftly down the hotel hall towards them.

"Leeson's agitated," Ariadne hissed as she scurried forward with Yusuf on her heels.

Arthur stopped to take care of the three projections. All Ariadne and Yusuf heard were the sound of three muffled gunshots and then the thump as three bodies hit the floor. Yusuf pulled a key card from his pocket and stuck it in the door. Arthur had now re-joined the group and they entered the hotel room in a whirl.

"Get your hands where I can see them!" Arthur shouted as he entered the room, a gun in his hands.

Yusuf went next a small semi-automatic clutched in his own hands. Ariadne trailed behind with the suitcase. She was trying her best to keep her mind focused on making herself look bigger and bulkier, but she wasn't sure if she was still succeeding or not, though she certainly felt more masculine.

"What the hell is going on? Who the fuck are you people?" Leeson bawled, as he pushed Eames (who still looked like Ariadne) off of him. The real Ariadne set the suitcase down and quickly poked her head outside the hotel room. Two more projections, armed, were closing in on their location. Ariadne quickly closed the hotel room door and locked it.

"We've got company coming!" she shouted in a deep voice nothing like her own.

"Who are-" Leeson began to bark again as he got unsteadily to his feet. Arthur moved forward quickly and bashed his weapon across Leeson's face. The man stumbled backwards and sat on the bed again.

"I think you know who we are!" Arthur growled. Eames now grabbed Leeson from behind and Arthur ambushed him from the front. Leeson struggled, but Yusuf quickly came forward sticking a needle into Leeson's arm. Leeson was out within seconds.

"Let's hook him up," Eames snapped quickly. He was now back to his regular form.

"What about the projections outside?" Yusuf asked as he began unwinding an IV cable.

"With Leeson under again they'll be outside in the halls patrolling, but they shouldn't be able to get into this room," Arthur said as he unravelled an IV for himself.

"Shouldn't?" Yusuf asked uncertainly.

"Don't worry about it!" Eames snapped.

"You're not the one staying behind!" Yusuf shouted angrily.

"If anyone does get through just shoot them!" Arthur shouted back.

"This is why I hate going in the field!" Yusuf cried as he positioned himself so he would have a good safe position to guard the door from.

Ariadne lay down on the floor now and Eames took up a spot next to her.

"You and I have some things to discuss when this is over," Ariadne said to the man as she inserted her own IV.

Eames chuckled, obviously knowing what the girl was referring to. "A good forger and thief never gives up his secrets."

Yusuf gave one last furtive glance at the door before he pressed the button, which would administer the sleep aid and take his colleagues and Leeson into the second layer of the dream.

**Note: Well just a short chapter, but it was just as well as I didn't have a lot of time to spend on editing it. I hope you enjoyed it. Feel free to show your appreciation by reviewing!**


	14. Chapter 14: Change of Plans

**Extraction**

**Chapter 14: Change of Plans**

**Note: I do not own Inception. Thank you to everyone who reviewed! We once again broke records (9 reviews for the last chapter) I'm so happy!**

This time when the team awoke they were in a pretty standard looking office building, with white walls and grey carpet. However, this wasn't just any office building, it was a semi-replication of a building owned by Cobol Engineering. The building itself was fairly non-descript, but Ariadne had been sure to incorporate some specific pieces of artwork unique to one of Cobol's headquarters in Mombassa. Leeson wouldn't miss the resemblances she was sure. However, in keeping with Cobb's rules Ariadne was sure to not make the building too similar to the one owned by Cobol, so that their team wouldn't have to worry about losing their grip on reality.

At the moment they had Leeson tied to a chair in one of the building's smaller conference rooms. They had chosen this small room as it didn't have any windows and only one door as an exit, which Ariadne had reinforced to give Arthur extra protection as he questioned Leeson.

Arthur pulled a black ski mask over his face again as he was getting ready to barge into the small conference room to question Leeson. The original plan had been for Arthur and Eames to question Leeson together, but after much thought and debate the team had decided, well the men had decided, that it would be too dangerous for Ariadne to try and make her way to the safe alone. So, it was agreed that Arthur would question Leeson, while Eames and Ariadne made their way to the safe in the building.

Ariadne had thought it was silly, because the safe was only a last resort anyway. Arthur was the one who would have the tough job of trying to crack Leeson, and everyone had kept saying how it was only going to be in an absolute worst-case scenario that they would attempt breaking into the safe; this was merely because it would draw so much attention to themselves. However, Ariadne had given in simply to keep the peace.

"You two make your way to the safe," Arthur instructed as he place his hand on the doorknob to the conference room. Ariadne and Eames nodded as they inserted some tiny communication devices into their ears.

"Here's hoping all goes well," Eames mused as he crossed his fingers for the team to see.

Everyone nodded. Ariadne and Eames began to take off down the hall. The two wore expensive looking business suits in order to try and blend into the corporate environment.

"First door on the left," Ariadne said to Eames as they approached the stairwell.

"I know, I know. I studied your design well," Eames informed the architect.

"Sorry," Ariadne apologized.

"We're all a little tense," Eames relented as he took the door Ariadne suggested. They were now in a concrete stairwell.

"I'm going in," Arthur whispered into his communication device so Ariadne and Eames would know to expect the dream environment to begin getting a little hostile.

Eames and Ariadne didn't reply, but instead continued to jog up the stairs. Ariadne was now debating whether or not she should dream herself wearing something other than high-heels as her feet were already beginning to hurt. However, Eames was unrelenting and didn't slow his pace in the slightest. So, Ariadne dared not stop to make the necessary changes. They finally emerged onto the eight floor and began to head in an easterly direction, which would eventually take them to an elevator. However, two men with guns at the ready came out of an office just a few feet ahead of Eames and Ariadne.

The projections paused when they saw Eames and Ariadne. "Halt!" both men cried as their bodies tensed.

"Back in the stairwell!" Eames cried shoving Ariadne back in the direction they had just come from.

* * *

><p>"Come on Leeson, this shouldn't be difficult! All we want to know is what happened to the extraction team who worked the Saito case for Cobol!" Arthur snapped as he kicked the chair Leeson was tied to.<p>

"Whatever you have planned for me couldn't be half as bad as what Cobol will do to me if I talk! Besides we're in a dream aren't we? You can't kill me because I'll just wake up. Isn't that right?" Leeson snarled.

Arthur tried to hide his shock. _Leeson must have a stronger subconscious than we thought if he's so sure we're in a dream_, _or maybe he isn't consciously aware yet._ Arthur thought, as the environment still seemed stable. Generally when the subject was aware they were dreaming projections began attacking the foreign entities and the dream became unstable. _Maybe Leeson believing he's in a dream is just the dream itself _Arthur thought.

"Is that what you've heard?" Arthur finally asked Leeson and then shot the man in the foot.

"AH!" the man shouted in pain as he squirmed against his bonds to try to ease his discomfort. Arthur did feel slightly bad, as he knew how much it could hurt to get shot in a dream. However, the feeling didn't last long. After all, this man had probably killed Nash himself and may be even Cobb.

"Ready to cooperate yet?" Arthur asked coldly bending so that his eyes were level with Leeson's.

"We know the architect Nash was hand delivered to you! So, don't even bother denying that fact!" Arthur barked, straightening.

It was brief, but Arthur was sure he saw a look of fear on Leeson's face, like he was worried Arthur had somehow already extracted that information from his mind.

Arthur grinned. Leeson was beginning to waiver; perhaps his subconscious wasn't that tough after all.

"That's right Leeson, your subconscious' defences are already slipping. It will only be a matter of a little more torturing, before I have all the information I'm seeking," Arthur taunted as he waved his gun in the air.

"So, maybe we should just do this easy way, hmm, Leeson? Just tell me what I want to know. That way I don't have to keep hurting you and everyone goes home happy, because one or another I am going to get the information I want!" Arthur growled.

At that moment there was a light knock at the door.

_Right on time_ thought Arthur with a grin.

Arthur kept his gun focused on Leeson as he backed towards the door and unlocked it, opening it slowly. As Arthur stepped back Ariadne entered the room, or rather Leeson's projection of Ariadne. The man imagined the girl in the same skimpy undergarments Eames had been wearing, but Leeson's version of Ariadne had the girl looking a little bustier than the real Ariadne.

"You heard the man Leeson," the projection purred. "Let's just do things the easy way. Tell them how you tied Nash to a chair, much like how you are now. Tell them how you tortured him."

The projection of Ariadne now sauntered forward her hips swinging more emphatically than the real Ariadne's would have. Arthur closed and locked the conference room door again. He then crossed his arms allowing Leeson's projection to do the work for him.

"Tell them how the man screamed, when you cut off his index finger," the projection of Ariadne murmured as she ran her own small hand over Leeson's tied one.

_We'll have Cobb's whereabouts in no time_, Arthur thought to himself.

* * *

><p>A bullet whizzed by Ariadne's head just as Eames shoved her trough a doorway leading to the sixth floor.<p>

"Let's get to the elevator," Eames suggested as they rushed to the end of the hall and then made a right.

"Why are they so violent already?" Ariadne wheezed as she tried to will her legs to keep up with Eames' much longer ones. The girl had managed to slip out of her shoes during their escape and now ran along the carpeted floor in bare feet.

"Obviously Arthur's questions are seriously bothering him. Plus, the guy is violent in real life so it's not really a surprise he's got a rather violent subconscious," Eames answered as he picked up his pace.

The elevator was now in sight. They just had to make it to the end of the hall, another 50 feet at the most. However, they weren't going to be that lucky. The elevator dinged as the doors opened and four armed men emerged.

"This way!" Ariadne cried pulling Eames into a nearby office. She then proceeded to pull a few books of the shelf before she found what she was looking for, a bright red button.

Ariadne pressed the button and the bookcase slid away, revealing a metal door with a security keypad in the centre. Ariadne quickly typed a four digit number sequence onto the keypad in front of her and the door swooshed open just as the armed men came into the room and began shooting at them.

The two hurried into the room and Ariadne began to pull the metal door closed behind them, while Eames got a couple of shots off at the projections. Once the door was locked the two caught their breath.

"A panic room?" Eames asked as he took in their surroundings.

"Yeah."

Ariadne went to another keypad on the far wall of the panic room and typed in a code, which caused a hatch in the roof to open.

"It leads to the air ducts, which I designed to lead right to the room where the safe is located," Ariadne explained.

"Good thinking," Eames mused as he hoisted Ariadne up through the hatch in the roof. Ariadne grabbed the ledge and pulled herself up and then Eames jumped and grabbed the ledge so he could pull himself up.

Ariadne began to crawl through the ductwork and Eames followed behind, after closing the panic room hatch closed behind himself.

* * *

><p><em>This is taking too long. His projection is just beating around the bush!<em> Arthur grumbled to himself as he glanced at his watch. There was a loud hurried knock at the conference room door now.

"Damn, more projections" Arthur hissed under his breath. The projection of Ariadne halted her questioning as she looked to the door.

"You going to answer that?" she asked Arthur in an annoyed tone. Arthur glared, but turned slowly towards the door as though obeying the projection's wishes.

_Leeson's subconscious is actually stronger than I thought it would be,_ Arthur thought. _The projection isn't going to tell us what we want to know like we had hoped._

"Arthur?" Eames' voice crackled through the communication device in Arthur's ear.

"You can't get into the safe?" Arthur guessed, sensing that the situation was about to go from bad to worse.

"Way too heavily guarded! I could start dreaming up some explosives, but I fear we aren't sedated heavily enough for that to work. We'd all just get kicked back to the first layer of the dream before we could get the documents in the safe," Eames explained.

"Well I'm fucked on this end too. Leeson isn't going to tell us himself where Cobb is," Arthur snapped.

"So, time for some more forceful interrogation then?" Eames' voice crackled.

There was a long pause before Arthur finally responded, "no."

"So, are you going to come here then to try and back us up so we can get into the safe?" Ariadne's confused voice asked through the radio.

"No," Arthur said again, more firmly this time.

"Then what-"

Arthur cut Ariadne off, "We need to go one level deeper."

* * *

><p>Ariadne and Eames exchanged a knowing look from where they sat in the air vents.<p>

"But we didn't plan to go down to a third layer!" Ariadne finally snapped. There was a muffled sound over the com-link that sounded like a gunshot and then only static.

"Arthur what happened?" Ariadne asked frantically. There was no response from the point man, only static.

"I think Arthur's been killed," Eames said as he removed his earpiece to give it a shake as if that would clear the static.

"What?" Ariadne cried, but before Eames could respond the crackling on the radio ended and Arthur's voice broke through.

"I've sent Yusuf back to reality to sedate us more heavily so that things will be stable enough when we go another layer down," Arthur informed his teammates.

"You shot yourself?" Ariadne cried into the communication device now.

"It was the only way to get me back to the first layer of the dream," Arthur replied in a matter-of-fact tone.

"But if Yusuf is in reality that means the first layer of the is dream collapsing! His mind was the host for that first layer!" Eames snapped into the radio.

"We needed him to sedate us more heavily so that we could another layer down!" Arthur shouted again.

"What the fuck Arthur! If the first dream is collapsing the deeper layers are going to be bloody unstable with or without extra sedative, because they can't function once the first dream is gone! They'll all collapse!" Eames roared angrily.

"The first layer will take at the very least 30 seconds to collapse, meaning that gives us two minutes before this layer collapses and 20 minutes before a third layer collapses!" Arthur explained.

"But I didn't design a third level!" Ariadne hissed breaking into the argument now too.

"Then you have a few seconds to come up with something!" Arthur snapped angrily back. "Now get back to my location, we're wasting time!"

Ariadne looked at Eames now, pleading with him to help her make Arthur see reason.

"Design a maze that will take place back in Leeson's hotel room, but have the hotel room situated in this Cobol building. So, that we'll still have access to the safe," Eames instructed.

A look of panic crossed Ariadne's face. Eames squeezed her shoulder reassuringly, "Arthur, we're going to get back to where you are. Knock Leeson out and dream up a kit so we can all go a third layer deeper," Eames told the point man.

"Thanks Eames," Arthur replied gratefully, relieved that the forger had his back.

"And how do you propose we get back to Arthur in a few seconds? This place is crawling with projections out to get us," Ariadne snapped.

"We'll take the air vents obviously," Eames answered.

"It'll take us the two minutes before this place collapses just to get back to Arthur using the air vents!" Ariadne cried shaking her head.

"Then start changing the maze to give us a more direct route!" Eames roared.

"But Cobb said when you starting changing the dream environment the subject becomes more aware of the foreign presence and begins to converge–"

"Just do it!" Eames growled. Ariadne instinctively backed away from the angry man, but nodded her head, and before their very eyes the air vents began to squeal and groan as they changed shape.

* * *

><p>Arthur moved to the projection of Ariadne and grabbed her roughly away from Leeson. He swung her violently around and the projection lost her balance collapsing to her knees.<p>

"What are you doing?" the projection screeched. Arthur shot her in the head and she collapsed on the floor at his feet.

"What are you doing?" Leeson repeated the projection's question. Arthur reached into his pocket and pulled out a small syringe. Leeson's eyes widened as he struggled against his restraints.

"We're out of time," Arthur explained as he jabbed the needle into Leeson's neck. The man's eyes drooped until they completely closed and then his head lolled as he drifted into unconsciousness. Arthur jumped as the incessant pounding on the reinforced room's door became more frenzied and violent.

"The projections are converging on this location," Arthur mumbled. He then went to a closet where he pulled out a suitcase. He opened it and inserted one of the IV's into Leeson's arm and one into his own.

A few moments later Arthur heard the whine of metal straining and soon an air vent appeared in the roof of the room, which made no sense, as the floor of another conference room should have been above this one. The pounding outside the conference door became even more furious and Arthur could hear the sound of gunfire.

Ariadne and Eames suddenly appeared through the vent.

"Close that up!" Eames instructed Ariadne who imagined the air vent closing, which then left the room as secure as it once was. The room began to shake ever so slightly now. It seemed this dream level was already becoming unstable since the first level of the dream was on the verge of collapse.

Eames stumbled over to the suitcase unsteadily, grabbed an IV and began tugging it out of the suitcase. Ariadne did the same.

"We'll be back in Leeson's hotel room. Arthur, I'll pose as Leeson's brother, pretend you're holding him hostage. Ariadne you'll be in the room with the safe waiting for Leeson's defences to go down so you can open it," Eames explained.

"But why will we be any more successful breaking into the safe in a third layer than we were here?" Ariadne demanded as she stuck the needle into her arm.

"The deeper you go into the subject's subconscious the more susceptible the subject's mind is to the foreign entity's ideas and thoughts. Hence, why we went three levels down on the Fischer job. Plus, remember how Cobb said the subconscious runs on emotion, and not logic like the conscious mind? By pretending to torture Leeson's brother we'll be hitting him on a real emotional level this time, and remember how Arthur said family was important to this guy? We pretend like we're going to hurt his family, maybe he'll give us what we want," Eames explained hurriedly.

"We were so close here! I think one more layer and Leeson will crack." Arthur added.

"You got something?" Arthur asked Ariadne. Obviously, asking if she had a maze worked out yet.

"Yeah, I got something," Ariadne nodded, "Now who's mind are we going into?" the girl clarified.

"Mine," Eames replied as Arthur pressed the button that would inject the sleeping aid into them.

**Note: Well it turns out Leeson's subconscious was stronger than the team had anticipated. Plus, they now really do have to hurry things up because the first two dreams are collapsing since each dream's "dreamer" is no longer in them. (i.e. level one was in Yusuf's mind (who is now back in reality) and level two was in Ariadne's mind, who is now going a third layer down).**

**If you're confused, just think of how the Inception movie began. The second dream layer was Arthur's mind and when Cobb killed him things began to collapse and then Arthur tried to sedate Saito even more to keep him under longer, so Cobb could get the information they were trying to extract. I'm just kind of doing the same thing, but in reverse. I have the first dream collapsing, so the subsequent dreams are going to fall apart too.**

**Also, I reasoned they would have enough time on the third layer before things collapsed because the farther down you go the quicker the brain operates, so the more time you have. I think that is what the movie said if I remember correctly. Anyway, if you have any questions feel free to send them in a review or private message.**


	15. Chapter 15: The Plan Comes Together

**Extraction**

**Chapter 15: The Plan Comes Together**

**Note: I do not own Inception. Thank you to everyone who reviewed! I originally had this chapter split into two separate chapters, but because everyone has been reviewing so loyally I decided to give you two for one today ^_^**

"Arhg!" Eames groaned as though he were in pain. He was now disguised as Leeson's brother, Richard. The forger had watched the young man during the wedding reception long enough to get a good sense of his mannerisms, or at least he hoped he had.

Eames' grunt had brought Leeson back to consciousness. The subject blinked his eyes a few times taking in his surroundings. It appeared to the man that he was in his hotel room. However, he felt very disoriented.

"Tommy!" Eames choked his brother's name. "Tommy! They say you work for some kind of engineering company! I don't know what they're talking about! Tommy, what is all this?" Eames pleaded in a gravely voice, much like Richard Leeson's.

"Richie?" Leeson asked unsure, as he blinked to re-focus his vision. Eames was sitting in a wooden chair next to Leeson. Both men's limbs were tied extremely tightly; rope burns were visible on Leeson's wrists.

However, Eames looked significantly worse than Leeson did. The forger, for was posing as Richard Leeson, appeared to be battered and bruised, and blood was oozing from a cut over his left eye. All of the wounds were merely cosmetic alterations on Eames' part though, but he certainly looked like a man that had been through a lot.

"Tommy! Tell them whatever it is they want to know! I heard Kaitie screaming! I think they're hurting her in the next room over! Please Tommy! Don't let them hurt my wife!" Eames pleaded again breaking off into stifled sobs.

"Your brother's a smart guy, Tommy," Arthur sneered Leeson's name as he stepped out of the shadows in the far corner of the room. "Now, tell us what happened to the other extractors on the Saito job!"

"You, you were trying to extract that information from me . . . by going into my dreams . . ." Leeson mumbled slowly, shaking his head in confusion, trying to grasp what was going on. No doubt the numerous sedatives and excessive alcohol weren't helping his foggy brain either.

"Focus!" Arthur snapped as he smacked the butt of his gun into the side of Leeson's head. "We did try that, but you had a surprisingly tough subconscious Leeson. So, now we have to go about this the old fashioned way," Arthur barked as he aimed his gun at Eames.

"If you don't tell us what we want to know I'll kill your brother and his wife! Plus, I have people at the reception down below waiting to kill the rest of your family too!"

Leeson shook his head again, but more violently, he was obviously trying to clear his thoughts still. Eames let a pathetic whimper escape his lips before shutting his eyes tightly, letting a few tears squeeze out and trail down his bloody and bruised cheeks.

"Tommy, come on! What are you waiting for?" Eames begged, as Arthur pushed his gun more firmly to Eames' temple.

"Maybe he just needs more incentive," Arthur suggested as he pulled his gun away from Eames and exited the hotel room. The point man knew he was taking a risk leaving the room. Leeson's projections could attack him, but he had to take that chance.

Once out in the hall Arthur cleared his throat and did his best to imagine his voice sounding like Kaitie Leeson's. Then, he let out a blood-curdling scream and began begging for his life. He then changed his voice back to his own voice, pretending to threaten the young bride. Inside Leeson's hotel room Eames closed his eyes tightly again, pretending like the sound of "Kaitie's" screams were too much for him to bear.

"Tommy, please just tell them what they want! I don't want to die! I don't want my wife to die!"

"Richie, you don't understand! The people I work for won't let me live if I tell these people anything. Hell, they'll probably come after all of you t-too!" Leeson began to explain to Eames, but his voice cracked ever so slightly at the end, suggesting to Eames that Leeson was getting emotional. _Perfect, just a little more_ Eames thought to himself.

"What are you talking about? I thought you worked for some garbage dump?" Eames croaked out in confusion.

Leeson cringed and turned his head away from Eames. Eames' expression darkened.

"Don't you?" Leeson didn't respond to his "brother's" question. The man's downcast eyes just merely shifted guiltily towards his little brother. Leeson's continued silence spoke louder than any words he could have uttered.

Eames' brow furrowed in anger now and his eyes darkened. "After all those years I stood by you! That Dad stood by you! This is how you re-pay us? By letting us all be tortured and killed!"

Arthur let out another feminine sounding scream and began pounding on the wall in the room beside the one Leeson and Eames were in. A choked sob now escaped Leeson's mouth. Eames tried to hide his smile as he saw Leeson struggling roughly against his bonds.

"I'm sorry Richie, I'm so sorry!" Leeson cried, tears actually running down his cheeks. "I'll tell you what you want to know! I'll tell you!" Leeson screamed, obviously trying to get Arthur's attention again.

Eames knew Arthur had to have heard, but the point man continued his charade in the other room for a few moments longer anyway. After a few more minutes, there was silence and Arthur stalked back to the room Leeson and Eames were in.

As Arthur opened the door to Leeson's hotel room Ariadne's voice crackled over the radio device implanted in both Arthur and Eames' ears. "The safe is open! I have the documents!"

Arthur grinned. He knew all they had to do was get deeper, that Leeson would crack if they just went a little father. However, Arthur's joy was short-lived as suddenly gunfire was heard over the communication link.

"Ariadne?" Arthur shouted as he tried to clear the static sound in his ear.

"Wait," Leeson said slowly as his breathing began to return to normal and his sobs began to quiet. The man's formerly struggling body went eerily went. Eames' eyes just widened in concern.

"We're dreaming, aren't we?" Leeson asked.

Suddenly the room began to shake lightly, and a low rumbling sound could be heard, like they were in the middle of a small earthquake. This disturbance was undoubtedly a combination of the prior two dream levels on the verge of collapsing and Leeson's own subconscious beginning to realize that it was trapped in someone else's dream world.

Arthur knew he had to try and distract Leeson from the fact that they were dreaming. They still needed time to read the documents Ariadne had found, if Leeson's projections hadn't already torn them to shreds. He could only hope that the architect was still alive and keeping the information out of the hands of Leeson's projections. So, Arthur lunged forward and grabbed Eames who still looked like Leeson's brother.

"You're coming with me!" he growled trying to keep up the pretence of the hostage situation, as he drug Eames from the room. Once they were in the hall Arthur pulled the door to hotel room shut with his foot.

"I'll try and get to the safe and find Ariadne!" Eames cried as he ran off down the hall, his appearance already back to his own and his bonds gone. "You try and keep the dream from collapsing for as long as possible!"

Arthur nodded, though the forger couldn't see the response, as he was already gone. At that moment one of Leeson's projections exited the hotel room across from where Arthur stood. The projection, a large bulky man, dove at Arthur, who dodged the attack, spinning his body so it was behind his assailant. Arthur then used his body weight to smash the man into Leeson's hotel room door.

The blow momentarily disoriented the projection. This was all the time Arthur needed. He then grabbed the man by his shaggy brown hair and bashed his head into the door three times, before the man finally slumped to the ground lifelessly. A small trickle of blood was running off his forehead and on to the carpeted floor. Arthur pushed the man out of his way unceremoniously and headed back into Leeson's hotel room.

"Of course we aren't dreaming Leeson! We're back in your hotel room idiot!" Arthur snapped as he re-entered the room, using his gun to smack Leeson in the head again. Pain would hopefully now occupy the man's thoughts rather than the fact that he believed he was dreaming.

* * *

><p>Ariadne was gasping for air as she continued running. She had been shot in the shoulder, but despite the overwhelming pain she had managed to keep the papers she had pulled from the safe securely in her grasp as she escaped the volatile situation. The architect had had just enough time to create a wall in front of her body, before the projections that had stumbled upon her in the safe room had had time to get anymore of their bullets into her. However, the changing of the dream had drawn the notice of some of Leeson's other projections and she could hear their thunderous footsteps not far off.<p>

_What to do? What to do?_ the girl thought frantically. She needed a safe place where she could look these documents over, but the maze she had created for this level was a rather simple one, because she had been under serious pressure and time restraints.

_I could always change the dream landscape_, the girl reasoned. However, she knew that that could also draw more of Leeson's projections towards her.

_What am I going to do?_

* * *

><p>Eames began running up a set of stairs. He could only hope that Ariadne had kept the layout of this maze similar to the one from the second level. If she had, then the Safe would be located on the 10th floor in the northeastern section of the building.<p>

Suddenly, numerous projections poured out of the doorway leading to the 9th floor. Eames cursed and backtracked, getting out on the 8th floor. However, two more projections were waiting to ambush him as he ran through the doors coming from the stairwell. Eames took a bullet in the gut before he managed to dive roll and then shoot his two attackers.

As Eames righted himself unsteadily, the building began to shake even more violently. What had once been a slow vibrating was now an all out shaking. _This has to be the result of the first two dream layers being incredibly unstable_, Eames thought to himself.

The forger then began to run again, but at a much slower pace as he held a hand to his wounded midsection. Plus, it was difficult to run on ground that was shaking so severely. He had to find the safe, or Ariadne; they needed the documents she had gotten!

Eames began to tinker with the communication piece in his ear, but it still just garbled static at him. They could no longer communicate with each other. Obviously the dream was becoming too unstable. At that moment a piece of the ceiling fell and Eames just barely managed to jump out of the way and avoid being killed.

Eames hissed in frustration. He had a feeling that Yusuf probably had them so heavily sedated now that dying would no longer kick them back to the second layer of the dream. If the team didn't want to end up in limbo they would have to use a kick to wake-up, like on the Fischer job.

"I really hope Ariadne didn't die," Eames murmured as he stumbled along the hall. The forger cringed; he could hear more projections approaching from behind.

* * *

><p>"Damn!" Arthur swore as he dodged a piece of ceiling that crashed down where he had been standing moments before.<p>

_I've got to get back to the second level, so I can give Eames and Ariadne a kick to get them back to the second level too!_ Arthur thought to himself. _After all, knowing Ariadne she'd probably stay here until it was far too late and get trapped in limbo, and knowing Eames he won't just leave her behind if he suspects she's still here. No, I have to get to the second level and force them back myself,_ Arthur reasoned.

It was becoming painfully obvious that this dream wasn't going to last much longer and if they were all still inside it when it did finally collapse they would end up in limbo, of that Arthur was certain. The point man was still praying that those gun-shots he had heard over the radio a few moments ago hadn't killed Ariadne, because if they had she could already be trapped in oblivion.

"What can I do for a kick?" Arthur murmured to himself, as he looked around the room, which was slowly falling apart around him.

"What are you talking about over there? What is happening? Is this an earthquake?" Leeson shouted as he tried to break free of his bindings to avoid being maimed by pieces of falling building. Finally, Arthur charged forward and pushed Leeson's chair over towards the window of the hotel room, which was badly cracked from all the shaking.

"What are you doing?" Leeson screamed.

Arthur didn't respond. Instead he grabbed the front legs of the chair Leeson was tied to and lifted them upwards, causing the chair to fall back dangerously against the glass window. Soon gravity was aiding Arthur and the chair and man both crashed through the glass and out over the window ledge. Leeson screamed as he began to fall to what he assumed was his death; but only seconds after Leeson's fall the scream died away as the man was kicked back to the second level.

Arthur then hopped onto the window ledge, careful to avoid the shards of glass still stuck to the window. He looked at the street below. _Not the most elegant kick, but it's practical,_ the point man thought as he jumped out the window to follow Leeson back to the second level of the dream.

* * *

><p>Eames was only on the 9th floor and it was obvious he wasn't going to make it to the 10th were he hoped the safe was located. The bullet wound in his gut, was causing him extreme pain and Leeson's projections were closing in on him quickly too. Eames shot a man as he came out of a room to Eames' left.<p>

Suddenly, if it were even possible, the building began to shake even more viciously and light fixtures and door handles began to explode into tiny sharp projectiles. Large cracks also began to snake their way along the walls and floor of the building too.

"We have got to get out of here with or without those documents," Eames muttered aloud. The forger peered into the room his attacker had just emerged from. Straight across from the forger was a large window whose glass barrier had already shattered and littered the floor with its dangerous remains. He could jump out it now and get himself back to the second layer, but could he really leave Ariadne behind?

_What if she is in limbo already?_ Eames though to himself. The forger shook his head; he knew that if he were the one trapped in limbo, he would want someone to come for him, to help remember that he was dreaming. But the forger was running out of time, he had to make a decision and fast.

* * *

><p>Arthur was back in the Cobol headquarters on the second layer of the dream. Despite the violent shaking on this level and the large cracks in the building the small conference room was still standing and keeping Leeson's projections out. Arthur grinned; Ariadne had done an amazing job when she designed this room.<p>

Leeson was still strapped securely to a chair and luckily, for the moment, was unconscious, for which Arthur was thankful. Feeling momentarily safe, Arthur then turned his attention to Ariadne and Eames as they slept away on the floor.

"How to give them a kick?" Arthur murmured as he looked around the crumbling, window-less, empty room. _Changing this unstable of an environment could prove to completely shatter what little stability is left on this dream level, and trap all of us in limbo,_ Arthur thought.

The point man ran a hand through his hair trying to rack his brain. Could he really chance changing the dream just to give his teammates a kick? What was more, if Ariadne was in limbo already the kick wouldn't work on her anyway. Arthur growled in frustration as he kicked Leeson's chair. He had only seconds left to make a decision, or they all would definitely be trapped in limbo.

* * *

><p>Ariadne finally ducked into an office and closed the door behind her, or rather what was left of the door. She then pushed a nearby filing cabinet, which had fallen onto its side and spilled most of contents on the floor, in front of the door to buy her a few more seconds, before the projections barged in. The girl then took refuge under a desk to try and keep from being flattened and killed by falling debris. She then flattened the crumpled papers she had stolen from the safe on the floor of the room. A few drops of blood from her wounded shoulder marred the paper and the girl rushed to wipe them off as best she could. Just as Ariadne got the papers in order her body involuntarily jerked to the left flinging her out from under the desk and away from the precious papers. It was as though some sort of invisible force had jerked her body in that direction.<p>

"What the hell?" the girl wondered aloud, groaning as her shoulder ached in protest from the involuntarily movement. _Was that jerk the result of the dream collapsing, or iss someone on the second level moving my body around?_ the girl wondered. She shivered at the thought and then crawled on her hands and knees back to the papers again, she had to read them! She had to find out where Cobb was!

* * *

><p>Finally, Eames collapsed at the end of the 9th floor corridor, the elevator against his back. He held his gun out and shot two projections coming towards him. The forger's breathing was laboured, and he was certain now that he would not make it to the safe in time. Suddenly, Eames' body was jerked involuntarily to the right and then the left. He grunted in pain as he hit the crumbling wall on his left. The man brushed some of the drywall and dust off his body as he tried to right himself.<p>

"Let's hope that's Arthur moving my body in the second dream," Eames whispered to himself as he gave a garbled cough. Just as Eames felt like he might succumb to his wound, he heard a loud roaring noise, like the ocean. Eames saw what looked like a tidal wave rushing towards him and then there was blackness.

* * *

><p>Eames' lungs burned as he tried to take a breath. It took him only seconds to realize he was in water and he instantly shut his mouth. He tried kicking with all his might to the surface of the body of water he was in. As he broke through the surface he coughed and spluttered and rubbed the water out of his eyes. He heard someone gasp for air not far from him as they too broke the surface.<p>

It was Ariadne.

Eames smiled, relieved as he gave another cough. He swam over to the girl as she went under the surface of the water again briefly. He pulled her head back up for air and the two began to swim to the edge of what Eames could now see was a swimming pool, though the water was pounding against them violently, due to the shaking on this dream level.

Arthur rushed off the diving board he had been standing on to run around the outside edge of the pool. He reached for Ariadne's hand as she coughed and gagged, and pulled her from the water. Once she was seated on the ground safely Arthur helped a coughing Eames from the swimming pool as well.

"Did a little re-decorating I see," Eames finally croaked, as he indicated the swimming pool now located in the middle of the Cobol conference room.

"I'm sorry! I needed a kick big enough to drag you two back!" Arthur apologized.

"I . . ." Ariadne coughed again. "I k-know . . . where C-c" she coughed again. "Cobb is," she finally choked out.

"Then let's get the hell out of here, before those projections kill us and we end up in limbo anyway!" Eames hissed. The wall by the door was crumbling dangerously now and the arms and heads of projections were beginning to try and squeeze through the holes.

"Agreed," Arthur murmured as he noticed one of the arms squeezing through a crack was flailing a gun in their direction. The projection let out two shots, but luckily they weren't all that close to the trio.

"Ariadne a window if you please," Eames said as he struggled to keep his balance. Ariadne glanced at the cracked and crumbling wall on the other side of the room and it suddenly exploded leaving only a drop to the street far below. Arthur and Eames both pushed the still unconscious Leeson, chair and all, off the edge. He disappeared into thin air before he had a chance to hit the street below. Ariadne then came up beside the two men and took a hand of each in her own.

The three gave a collect nod and then jumped.

* * *

><p>Ariadne awoke feeling quite nauseous as the room she was in was shaking horribly. She was back in Leeson's imaginary hotel room, or at least what was left of it. The room was barely recognizable, as most of it had crumbled away. Dust and debris covered the architect's body and a few large chunks from one of the walls had landed dangerously close to her body. The girl sat up from her position on the floor and groaned. Eames, who was beside her on the floor, sat up now as well, pushing a chair and part of the door that fallen on him off his body.<p>

Ariadne reached for the totem in pocket and glanced at it briefly. They were still dreaming, which she knew, but she still had to check just to be sure.

"So next time we should be awake, right?" Ariadne asked her teammates clarifying.

"Yes," Eames said.

"Eames," Arthur called indicating that he wanted the forger to help him throw the unconscious Leeson out the shattered window of the hotel room. Eames groaned as he crawled over to where Arthur knelt. The ground was so unstable it was difficult to move. Plus, the air was thick with dust making it difficult to breathe.

Soon enough they had thrown Leeson out the window. Both Eames and Arthur were crouched by the window ledge; Ariadne was still struggling to get over to the two men. However, at that moment the whole room gave way and broke free of the building causing the room and it's occupants to begin tumbling to ground below. The last thing Arthur heard was Ariadne's scream before darkness enveloped him.

**Note: I hope you enjoyed! I had a lot of fun writing the last two chapters. I love action sequences, but I am not sure if my writing does them justice. Anyway please review!**


	16. Chapter 16: Locating Cobb

**Extraction**

**Chapter 16: Locating Cobb**

**Note: I do not own Inception. Thank you to everyone who reviewed last chapter! I also just wanted to let everyone know that this story is nearly finished. The story will have 20 chapters all together.**

**However, after reading some other Arthur and Ariadne fanfics that some of my faithful reviewers have written I am feeling inspired to write a short continuation to Extraction. At the moment I am just thinking a few chapters that would be drama and romantic fluff between Arthur and Ariadne, but who knows maybe an actual story could emerge if I actually start to write it. Anyway, let me know if any of you would be interested in reading something like this.**

"You're certain she's going to wake up soon!" Arthur snapped as he re-checked, for the tenth time, that his gun was loaded. Yusuf backed even further away from the angry Arthur.

"Yes, I'm sorry! But this really isn't my fault!" Yusuf cried. "When you sent me back here to sedate the four of you more heavily I didn't have much info to go on! I didn't know how much I'd have to give all of you to make the third layer stable. Plus, I had to just guess at the dosages based on the information you all provided me with a few months ago on the Fischer job! I mean it all depends on your height, weight, age, sex, etc. Normally, I would have taken at least a few hours to calculate just how much sedative to give each of you!" Yusuf wailed frantically from the corner he had finally taken refuge in.

"It's all right Yusuf! We know you did your best. I'm sure the sedative will wear off soon and then we can be on our merry way," Eames said calmly. "And Arthur would you put that gun down! You're making Yusuf nervous!" Eames snapped at the point man, who was re-checking his gun again.

"If we'd been smart we would have asked her where Cobb was before, we exited the dream," Arthur said, finally putting his gun back into his duffle bag.

"Well I don't know about you, but I was more concerned that we'd be trapped in oblivion for God knows how long!" Eames snapped. Arthur rolled his eyes and a silence set in. The point man began to strum his fingers on the arm of the chair he was sitting in.

"Oh, and Arthur, before I forget, I just want to say I never realized you had such a girly scream," Eames joked, finally breaking the tense silence.

"I was impersonating Kaitie Leeson!" Arthur snapped, instantly understanding what Eames was referring to.

"Of course, of course," the forger agreed, a large grin plastered to his face.

"You do realize I'm just looking for a reason to shoot somebody, don't you?" Arthur stated as his gaze went to his duffle bag where he had stowed his gun only a few minutes earlier. Eames chuckled and raised his arms in surrender.

It was then that Ariadne gave a groan and began to stir on the hotel room bed she had been moved to.

"Ariadne!" Arthur rushed to the young woman's side as she came back to consciousness. Yusuf rushed forward too and Eames grinned from the chair he was sitting in.

The architect's eyes fluttered open and she sat up shakily. She instinctively reached into her pocket for her totem and removed it giving it a squeeze.

"We're not dreaming," she finally mumbled feeling incredibly groggy.

"No, we're back in reality," Arthur said firmly.

"How are you feeling?" Yusuf asked worriedly from behind Arthur. Ariadne shook her head to clear the fog from her brain.

"Fine, I think," she finally replied.

"Now Ariadne, where is Cobb?" Arthur asked as he sat down on the bed beside the girl, his hands gripping her shoulders to keep her upright.

"You all changed," the architect mused in response. The girl noticed that they were no longer in Leeson's room, but rather in their own hotel room on the floor below, and that the boys were back into their own clothes rather than their caterer garb.

"Yes, well we've been waiting for you to wake up because we don't know where to go, as you are the only one who knows Cobb's location," Eames explained gently from his spot across the room.

"Oh!" Ariadne jumped up and off the bed now as realization finally dawned on her. She swayed unsteadily, but worked her way through the vertigo to the table in the room where a notepad with the hotel logo on it sat. She grabbed the hotel courtesy pen and quickly wrote down an address.

"He's here!" she cried holding the notepad out to Eames. Eames pulled his iphone out of his pocket and typed the address into google maps.

"Seems he's at a house or something, just on the outskirts of LA," Eames informed the team.

"I'll book us a flight!" Arthur said, already on his cell phone. "Yusuf get us a rental car, for when we arrive in LA," Arthur instructed as he began punching numbers into his cell phone.

"I'm going to go change," Ariadne muttered as she was still wearing her caterer outfit, with the shirt tied loosely in front. She grabbed her overnight bag from the corner she had left it in earlier and shuffled into the bathroom. A few minutes later the architect emerged from the bathroom freshened and more alert.

"There's a flight leaving from the Vancouver airport in an hour and a half. If we catch a cab now, we'll have no problems making it," Arthur informed the team as he slipped his cell phone into the pocket of his pants. Ariadne nodded and the men hoisted their bags onto their shoulders as they exited the hotel room.

"Leeson's still out?" Ariadne whispered to Yusuf as the gang headed towards the elevator.

"Yes, he shouldn't awaken until noon," Yusuf confirmed.

Ariadne glanced at her watch, "which should hopefully leave us enough time to get to Cobb and then disappear before Leeson has a chance to alert Cobol."

"Yup," Eames agreed as they entered the elevator. Once in the hotel lobby the noise from the wedding reception could be heard; a myriad of laughter and shrieks of excitement filtered out into the hotel lobby.

"Man, they are still going at it," Ariadne commented to no one in particular.

"I'll take care of our check out," Arthur said at last, heading for the reception desk.

Eames, Yusuf and Ariadne headed outside. As the automatic doors swooshed open for the group one of the groomsmen from the wedding party became visible. He was about to get into a cab outside of the hotel.

"I'll get us this cab," Eames whispered to his friends. The forger then rushed over to the groomsman grabbing him by the shoulder before he could get himself completely into the taxi.

"I'm sorry this cab is ours," Eames said good-naturedly.

"Huh?" the groomsman asked as he turned to face Eames. His face was red from the cheap wine he'd been drinking all night.

"No, I called this cab. The driver confirmed my name when he pulled up," a woman in her mid-fifties snapped as she stuck her head out of the back of the cab.

"Yikes, major cougar alert," Ariadne whispered to Yusuf who nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, so buggar off!" the obviously drunk groomsman slurred as he went to push Eames. Eames easily sidestepped the uncoordinated blow. Ariadne then hurriedly squeezed past Eames so that she could face the woman who was already in the cab.

"Ma'am, we just got word that a friend of ours has been in a very serious car accident down in LA. So, it is imperative that we get to the Vancouver airport ASAP to be with him. Please! You understand, don't you?" Ariadne begged trying to will some tears to her eyes, which wasn't too difficult as it had been quite the emotional night so far.

"Well . . ." the woman pondered, obviously not sure what to say.

"Hey, I can call my dispatch and have another cab here in a few minutes for you," the driver offered as he turned around from his front seat to face Ariadne.

"Oh, let them take this cab. If you could just call us another one, please!" the woman finally huffed as she exited the cab.

"Thank you!" Ariadne cried as she quickly slid into the backseat of the cab before the woman could change her mind. The girl stowed her small bag on the middle seat next to her, and after Yusuf had stowed his own bag in the trunk of the cab he then slid in beside Ariadne. Eames tossed his bag in the trunk as well and was getting into the front passenger seat when Arthur finally hurried out of the hotel and got into the back of the cab as well.

"To YVR, my good sir," Eames declared once all were inside.

**Note: Well just a short chapter today as the last two have been quite long. Please review!**


	17. Chapter 17: Dangerous Reality

**Extraction**

**Chapter 17: Dangerous Reality**

**Note: I do not own Inception. Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed! I've also had someone offer to do some scenes from this story and post them on their Deviantart page. So, if we do work something out I will be sure to post the link on my profile! Any particular scenes you guys want to see drawn?**

"I still can't get over how your guys' luggage, which is full of weaponry, can get through airport security. This literally boggles my mind! I mean my toothpaste got confiscated!" Ariadne complained from the back seat of the rental car.

"Well you do look like a trouble-maker. So, it's no wonder they had to give you the extra pat down," Eames joked from the front passenger seat.

Ariadne groaned. "Do not remind me! There is nothing more embarrassing. I mean everyone looks at you like you're some kind of criminal!"

"We should be arriving at our destination in about five minutes," Arthur interrupted; he was driving the rental vehicle. He turned the black car's exterior lights off so that they could hopefully arrive at their destination un-detected.

"You think it's a house or warehouse, that we're looking for?" Yusuf asked as he glanced out of the car window, he was situated in the back seat of the car like Ariadne.

"Judging from the area I'd guess a farmhouse or barn, something like that," Eames replied. Ariadne squinted out the window. It was so dark outside. It was strange not being in the middle of a bustling city with lights and people all around.

After a few more minutes of silence the car's GPS sang out, "arriving at destination, on right."

Arthur drove past the house, which was set at least 500 feet from the road and was surrounded by leafy trees and lush bushes. He drove maybe another 100 feet before killing the engine.

"The place is probably well-guarded," Arthur speculated as he turned in his seat to gaze back in the direction of the house.

"Where do you think they're keeping Cobb? I saw a few out-buildings back there too." Ariadne asked.

"I say we start with the house," Eames finally answered. "The majority of the guards are going to be there at this time of night."

"Ok," Arthur agreed. "Ariadne take the driver's seat," Arthur instructed as he popped the trunk and the men began to pile out of the car.

"Why?"

"Because we're going to go in and get Cobb and you are going to be here waiting to get us the hell out of here!" Arthur replied as he quietly closed his door.

"What? No! I'm going with you guys!" Ariadne snapped as she got out of the car quickly.

"Ariadne, this is going to be dangerous and this is nothing like fighting in dreams! We are probably going to have to kill whoever is in that house and these people are going to die, not wake up," Arthur explained harshly as he began to decide which of his weaponry he wanted to take in with him.

Ariadne was about to protest, but Eames held up a finger for silence. "Arthur's right, you'll just be a hindrance." Ariadne glared at the men, but neither was paying her any attention anymore, as they continued to arm themselves.

Yusuf quickly pulled on a Kevlar vest and then began strapping guns to his body. Arthur shrugged out of his jacket and Eames did the same so that the two men could slip on Kevlar vests of their own.

"You've gotta let me come with you! I understand the risks, but I'll go crazy sitting here! And who knows what you'll find in there," Ariadne tried again.

Finally Eames just handed her a vest. "I didn't think you'd just listen, but it was worth a shot."

"Eames!" Arthur began to protest.

"We don't have time to argue this! Everyone's got to make their own choices, and she's made hers!"

Arthur sighed in frustration and finally grabbed a small handgun and gave it to Ariadne.

"Do you have any idea how to use that?" he asked.

"No," the girl replied honestly as she clutched the small weapon. Arthur took the gun back for a moment and then handed it back to Ariadne.

"There, safety is off. Now all you have to do is just point and shoot. However, do NOT fire unless absolutely necessary because you'll be just as likely to shoot one of us as one of them," Arthur stated firmly.

Ariadne nodded in understanding and the group headed through the brush towards the farmhouse. Though the gun Ariadne clutched was small, it felt like an absolute lead weight in her hands, which were already becoming slippery with sweat. The girl let out a soft shaky breath as she tried to calm her nerves.

* * *

><p>"I spotted two by the front door, and three more patrolling the other sides of the house," Eames whispered as he silently crawled back to the spot where the group was concealed near the house.<p>

"I also saw one posted inside by the upper most window on the southern side, and one near the lower front window on the right side of the door," Arthur murmured.

"Ariadne, stay here. Yusuf, Eames and I will takeout the men patrolling the sides of the house. Then, when you see us sneaking towards the front guards you edge out of the bushes to distract them. You stay low and be cautious! We'll take them out and then storm the house. At that time you run like mad to catch up with us and then stay close to whoever is nearby," Arthur instructed.

Ariadne nodded as the three men left. A few minutes past and Ariadne hadn't heard anything yet. _Have they taken the patrollers out yet?_ she wondered. Suddenly Ariadne spotted the three men creeping through the shadows towards the front door guards. Arthur and Eames were coming from the left side of the house and Yusuf was coming from the right.

Ariadne tensed; she waited for as long as she dared and just when it looked as though the guard on the left was going to spot her friends Ariadne burst through the bushes. She did a sort-of off the shoulder forward roll to keep herself low to the ground, like Arthur had suggested.

One of the guards got a shot off. It didn't hit Ariadne, but she hadn't been able to see whom he had been aiming at; so she couldn't be sure the shot hadn't embedded itself in one of her friends. Almost in unison with the shot fired by the guard Ariadne heard two quick muffled shots and then the sound of the two guards' bodies dropping to the ground.

Ariadne then hopped to her feet and ran as fast she could. Covering the 50 feet to front door in record time. She threw herself against the side of the house as she followed Eames, who was the last of the men to enter the house. Now, numerous shots were being fired. Ariadne crouched low to the floor and plastered herself against a nearby wall once she entered the house.

"Get to the prisoner!" Ariadne heard an unfamiliar gravely voice shout, and then suddenly Yusuf fell to the ground in front of Ariadne. The girl's eyes widened when she saw the large kitchen knife embedded in Yusuf's thigh. Two men had stabbed and then knocked the chemist over as they ran up the staircase that was directly across from the front door.

"Cobb's upstairs!" Ariadne screamed regaining her composure. She was certain that was why those men had run up the stairs. To protect the prisoner as the other guy had ordered.

Ariadne crawled away from Yusuf, who was already trying to get to his feet, and she dove for the stairs in order to follow the men who had headed up there. However, Ariadne had barely made two steps before someone came up behind her and forced her body downwards towards the steps. The girl's head smashed into the hard wooden steps, her forehead taking the majority of the blow. The sound of gun's firing from the top of the stairs could now be heard. Ariadne could feel a large hand keeping her head pushed down as more gunshots rang out. Ariadne was sure she felt a bullet whiz past her ear, but she couldn't be sure, everything seemed to be happening so fast. However, she was certain that she hadn't been shot, yet.

Ariadne heard a shout of pain from above and then the sound of something heavy falling/sliding down the stairs. Ariadne's assailant quickly jerked her body upwards from the stairs, and pulled her sideways, crushing her smaller body with his larger more muscled one into the nearby wall. Much to Ariadne's horror a dead body slid down the stairs where she had been only moments before. Additionally, Ariadne could now see her 'attacker' was actually Arthur, as he pulled himself away from her.

"Stay behind me," Arthur shouted, as he pulled Ariadne's now very bruised body from the wall he had crushed her against and began climbing the stairs gun at the ready.

Ariadne heard more gunfire from below as she and Arthur climbed the stairs. Obviously Eames and Yusuf were still taking care of stragglers below. Suddenly, Arthur fired his weapon, causing Ariadne to jump and yelp in surprise. She hadn't even seen the man about to shoot them from the shadows above.

Once at the top of the stairs Arthur did a quick scan and could see no one else hiding in the long hall. He turned his attention to the door on their immediate left. He gave the door one quick hard kick near the handle and the door banged open. Arthur jumped back on the staircase using the wall as cover, but it was unnecessary as the room was empty. Arthur peered into the room just to be sure; even checking the closet, but the room was indeed empty.

Arthur then turned to the first room on the right in the L-shaped hallway. He pointed for Ariadne to position herself beside the door and against the wall so she would be somewhat protected if someone from inside the room shot at them. Arthur gave the door a firm kick and though it rattled this door didn't open on the first try. So, he tried again, and this time the door did fly open. Arthur sank to his knees as shots were fired from inside the room. He managed to avoid the first volley of bullets and Ariadne heard a thud and then a scream, indicating he had killed one man and injured another.

Another gun went off, but this shot came from behind Ariadne. Ariadne screamed in surprise and watched in horror as Arthur grunted in pain. However, the point man didn't miss a beat, in one swift, fluid motion he had rolled to his side and then fired his own gun. A second later their attacker's body fell to the ground behind Ariadne with a loud thud. Arthur then quickly turned his attention back to the bedroom beside him and shot the remaining man he had merely injured.

"Damn!" Arthur muttered as he ran a hand over his arm.

"Did you get shot?" Ariadne asked quickly scrambling over to Arthur; she could feel tears stinging her eyes. The girl was trying desperately not to cry. After all, they had told her not to come and she certainly wasn't about to wimp out now. She had to keep herself together.

"No, the bullet just grazed my arm, but it still hurt like a mother-" he quickly censored himself as though he remembered who he was talking to. Arthur then got to his feet and peered into the room, really taking in the surroundings now. Suddenly Arthur hissed, as he quickly inhaled. In the far corner strapped to a bed with various tubes and wires attached to him was Cobb.

"Cobb!" Ariadne cried about to rush into the bedroom, but Arthur stopped her. He went in first, again checking behind the door and then the closet. However, he needn't have worried, as the room was indeed empty of life, except for Cobb.

"Arthur?" Eames shouted as his hurried footsteps could be heard coming up the stairs.

"We're fine! Check the room on the end!" Arthur shouted as he stepped out of the room with Cobb and pointed to the only other room in the hall they hadn't checked yet.

Ariadne was relieved to see Eames seemed to be uninjured. The forger did have blood splattered on his face, but the girl noted that it didn't appear to be his own. She watched as Eames stepped over the dead body, which had landed only inches from where she had been pressed against the wall moments before and then hurried to Cobb's bedside, not waiting to find out if there were any more Cobol lackeys hanging about.

"Clear!" Eames shouted a moment later.

"Yusuf?" Arthur asked Eames as the forger joined them in Cobb's room.

"Took a couple of shots to his left shoulder, but he'll live. He's stationed himself at the bottom on the stairs," Eames explained hurriedly.

Ariadne fingered one of the tubes going into Cobb's arm. "What is all this?" she asked looking back to the doorway where Arthur stood.

Eames had now stationed himself at the top of the stairs. From here the forger had a view of not only the stairwell, but also the backyard of the house, as there was a large circular window just across from the staircase.

Arthur quickly stepped forward and took a look at the various contraptions Cobb was hooked up to. Ariadne's hands fiddled worriedly with the gun that was still clutched in her trembling hands. Cobb looked so weak in that bed. He was pale and thinner looking. His clothes seemed to hang a little more loosely about his frame.

"It looks like this is a feeding tube, and this one is giving him a sedative. This last IV is keeping him in a perpetual dream state," Arthur said after he had finished his quick study.

"So, let's unplug him and get the hell out of here," Ariadne cried.

Arthur shook his head. "We can take the sedation IV and the feeding tube out, but we can't take him off the dream one. We don't know how many layers under he has been put. We could end up really screwing him over."

"So, unplug what you can and we'll just carry Cobb and the dreaming apparatus out of here!" Eames called from the hall. "I'm betting before we killed those guys downstairs someone got a message out to Cobol. So, reinforcements probably aren't far away!"

"We can't do that," Arthur called back to the forger. "The machine isn't compact like the ones we use. Plus, even if it wasn't massive, it's bolted to the floor."

"So, what do we do?" Ariadne asked desperately.

"Someone's got to go in and try to bring Cobb back," Arthur explained. "Ariadne, I think it should be you."

"What? I think you or Eames would be better suited. I'm a newbie at this and who knows what I'm going to find inside there!"

"Eames and I are needed out here to guard the house until you can get Cobb back to reality," Arthur replied gently as he grasped Ariadne's shoulders firmly. The point man now stooped so he was eye level with the girl.

"You can do this Ariadne! I mean, who was it that willingly ran blindly into limbo just to bring Fischer back? You have a really strong emotional connection with Cobb, if anyone can bring him back from whatever dream world they've stuck him in, it's you!"

Arthur released the girl and straightened. "Eames, send Yusuf to guard the back of the place and you keep watch out front. I'll stay up here," Arthur instructed. Eames nodded and took off down the stairs two at a time, his footsteps echoing through the empty house.

Ariadne shook her head in disbelief as she quickly began looking for another IV she could use to help her enter Cobb's dreams. Finally, she located one. The girl then placed her gun on the bedside table beside Cobb and lowered her body to the floor beside Cobb's bed. She propped her upper-body against the wall and inserted the needle.

"Good luck," Arthur whispered. The point man then leaned down and kissed her softly before pressing the button to start the sleep aid.

**Note: Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I had a lot of fun writing it! **

**I debated having Ariadne shoot someone, but I didn't want to do the cliché scenario where the man's back is turned and suddenly the inexperienced girl shoots the attacker who is coming up behind the man, and no other moment seemed right to have Ariadne shoot someone lol. So, I decided not to force it and merely opted for some macho Arthur protecting his girl lol.**

**Review!**


	18. Chapter 18: Cobb's Dream

**Extraction**

**Chapter 18: Cobb's Dream**

**Note: I do not own Inception. **

**Okay. I can now tell all of you that I have written a sequel to Extraction. It will be 8 chapters long and nothing quite as intense as this story, but I think it will still be good. It's just going to be some romantic drama/fluff as I explore Arthur and Ariadne's relationship some more. I think it's quite cute. So, when I post the final chapter to Extraction in a few days, be sure to also look for the first chapter of the sequel.**

Ariadne was momentarily confused as she took in her surroundings. However, after doing a quick scan of the area, she found herself to be in the LA airport, or rather a dream reproduction of the LA airport. Behind her the luggage carousels were slowly turning and in front of her was a large group of people waiting to greet loved ones.

"This was how they abducted Cobb. Somehow between the time when we saw him go through customs and the time he got to this area of the airport he was abducted, then put under. When he went into the dream, he believed he was still getting out of the airport and didn't think anything was amiss. Guess even the best extractors can be blinded by fantasies," Ariadne said, to no one in particular. The girl was merely thinking out loud.

Ariadne glanced around again, wondering if whoever had brought Cobb into the dream world was still around. _There wasn't anyone else attached to the machine in Cobb's room_ Ariadne recalled. _So, maybe whoever set this up simply took Cobb through the levels and then left. But if the dream is still active then that must mean Cobb is both the Dreamer and the Subject._ Ariadne wasn't sure if that were possible, but she wasn't about to try and figure it all out now. She had to find Cobb.

"But where to find Cobb?" she wondered. Ariadne decided to head towards the exit. "He was going to meet Professor Miles, who would have had a car with him," Ariadne mused as she weaved her way through projections towards the exit. "So, maybe I'll check the quick pick-up parking spots out front first."

Ariadne began scanning the cars outside. She was looking for one with Cobb's unconscious body inside, because she was certain he had to be at least another layer down. _There is no way Cobb would have stayed in a dream all about the LA airport. His goal had been to get home, _Ariadne thought. Ariadne guessed that when she found a dream world with Cobb's home and kids, then she'd find Cobb.

After about twenty minutes of searching Ariadne was about to give up and try some of the more longer term parking when she spotted a car that had been hiding behind a taxi, which had just pulled out of it's waiting spot. Ariadne went up to the vehicle and pushed her face against the back windows to get a better view of the inside and saw Cobb passed out in the back. An IV was in his arm and a sleeping aid machine was hissing softly on the seat beside him.

Ariadne tried the door; it was locked. She went around trying all the doors, but they were all locked, not that she was surprised. Ariadne then began looking around for something she could use to break one of the windows with. Seeing nothing useful, Ariadne finally just decided to change the dream's environment. She imagined the car door peeling away and it slowly began to obey, groaning and squealing as it twisted to her will.

Obviously, this did not go unnoticed by Cobb's projections. However, Ariadne could only hope that they would leave her alone as long as she didn't do anything else to change the environment. After all, when she had first learned to manipulate dreams in Cobb's subconscious it hadn't been until she had changed a large number of things that his subconscious had turned on her.

Ariadne quickly slid into the car and inserted yet another IV into her arm. She pressed the button to begin the sleep-aid feed down her own tube and drifted off to sleep yet again.

* * *

><p>This time Ariadne found herself in the dining room of a well kept home. She recognized this dining room from when she had seen Cobb's memories during one of their shared dreaming experiences. The girl knew this was Cobb's home and she smiled. Cobb had to be on this level. She slowly edged toward the large dining room table. The first thing she noticed was Cobb's totem, spinning.<p>

"He tried to check if he was in a dream. So, what happened?" she wondered aloud. The fact that the top was still spinning should have tipped the skilled extractor off that he was in a dream. Ariadne shook her head in confusion and grew tense. Something wasn't right.

Ariadne's head darted towards the patio doors now as she could hear the shrieks of children and laughter coming from outside. Ariadne moved towards the glass doors and opened them slowly. She then headed outside and into the immaculate backyard. There was a large grassy area perfect for kids to run around and play on, and tons of well manicured foliage framing the green space. It was here that she spotted Cobb's children who were wrestling.

She began moving towards them, but stopped as realization dawned on her. "Those aren't Cobb's kids," Ariadne finally said. It was then that a woman in her early thirties came running around the corner of the house with a water gun in her hand chasing after another little tyke.

Ariadne gasped finally understanding what was going on. Just after the woman's sudden appearance, a man came from around the corner of the house too. He was obviously the woman's brother for they had some similar features. What was more startling however was that the man looked very similar to Cobb, his hair was a little lighter and his build a little slimmer, but the resemblance was striking.

"_Those_ are Cobb's children," Ariadne whispered. Then, as if hearing her voice, the woman, Phillipa, looked at Ariadne. Her smile faded and her expression grew grim.

"Who are you?" she asked as all the projections turned their attention to Ariadne now. Then another form came from around the side of the house an older man, whose hair was all white and he walked slightly hunched over. He was maybe in his 60's Ariadne guessed.

"Cobb?" Ariadne asked the elderly man, though she knew it was Dom.

Cobb frowned. "Who are you?"

"Cobb, it's me. It's Ariadne. Try to remember me!" Ariadne cried as she began to walk towards Cobb.

"Stay where you are," James shouted as he moved to stand in between Ariadne and his family members.

"Cobb, I'm Ariadne! Remember, you went to Professor Miles looking for an architect for the Robert Fischer job? The job that was going to take you home to your children!"

"I did get home to my children, as you can see," Cobb finally answered his expression growing taut.

"No Cobb you didn't! You were abducted by Cobol Engineering at the LA airport before you could get home!" Cobb's tense expression faltered briefly, but James and Phillipa's disgusted and angry expressions only grew more animated.

"We are dreaming right now! Cobb, your body is in a farmhouse located just outside of LA. Arthur, Eames, Yusuf, they are all outside this building right now protecting us from Cobol! They are trying to give me a chance to bring you home! To really bring you home!"

"Dreaming?" Cobb asked now, sounding unsure.

"Yes Cobb, dreaming! Go back to the house! Look at your totem! It's spinning! Don't you remember, you told me in dreams your top would spin and spin endlessly?" Cobb looked confused, like he could hear what Ariadne was saying, but that for some reason it wasn't making sense to him.

Ariadne fished her own totem out of her pocket, "Look Cobb! This is my totem and by looking at it right now I know I'm dreaming. I'm in your dream Cobb!"

"Yes . . .I told you to create a totem, but you wouldn't let me examine it, because you knew it was your only link to reality," he said slowly.

"Yes! Yes, Cobb exactly. Now please, please come back to reality with me!" Ariadne begged. She extended her hand in Cobb's direction he took a step towards her, and then paused looking hesitant. James rushed forward now and slapped Ariadne's outstretched hand aside, like a toddler would.

"Get out of here and stop trying to confuse my father! Can't you see he's an old man?" James shouted. Ariadne stepped sideways so James no longer blocked her view of Cobb.

"I'll tell you a riddle," Ariadne whispered.

"What?" Cobb asked softly, though his tone suggested he had heard Ariadne.

"I'll tell you a riddle," Ariadne repeated. Cobb now took a few more steps towards Ariadne and James retreated back towards Phillipa.

"You're waiting for a train, a train that will take you far away. You know where you hope this train will take you; but you don't know for sure. But it doesn't matter. How can it not matter to you where that train will take you?" There was a long pause and an eerie silence.

"Dad, please let's go play with your grandchildren," Phillipa begged.

"Because you'll be together," Cobb finally replied in a barely audible whisper. Ariadne fell to her knees now as the earth beneath her feet began to shake violently and trees and bushes began to explode wildly around the group.

* * *

><p>"Arthur! We have two more guys closing in from the northeast!" Eames called as he let a barrage of bullets free on their attackers.<p>

"I'm a little busy helping Yusuf at the moment! There's at least three guys shooting at us from the bushes behind the house!" Arthur called as he took aim from his upstairs window position and then fired. "Hurry Ariadne," Arthur whispered as he glanced into the bedroom where both Cobb and Ariadne slept.

**Note: Thank you to everyone who reviewed I really appreciate it! Also, thanks to those who recently added me to their story alerts etc.**


	19. Chapter 19: Escaping

**Extraction**

**Chapter 19: Escaping **

**Note: I do not own Inception. Thanks again to all who reviewed, we've made 100! I can't believe it. Next chapter we wrap everything up.**

Ariadne awoke to the sound of gunfire. The girl groaned as she removed her IV and gave her surroundings a once over. The room was empty, except for the two men Arthur had killed earlier. However, Ariadne could see Arthur in the hall. He was facing the back window and had a large gun propped on the ledge. On the bed a weak Cobb moaned. Ariadne jumped to her feet now, taking action.

"Easy Cobb, you've been immobile for a couple of months!" Ariadne cautioned as she helped the man sit up, noting with some amusement, despite the situation, that he needed a shave. His clothes were also loose on his once healthy, muscled form and his skin was a sickly pale colour.

This made Ariadne furious. She hoped Arthur and the others killed as many of those Cobol operatives as they could. _How could anyone treat another human being this way?_ _Besides that, how could they have been so cruel as to take Cobb away from his children when he was so close to finally getting them back? _Ariadne wondered.

"Arthur, we're back! We're awake!" Ariadne finally called.

"Eames they're awake!" Arthur shouted.

"What's happening?" Cobb asked as he ran a hand over his face.

"Remember, in the dream I told you Cobol kidnapped you and had you holed up in a farmhouse outside of LA," Ariadne gently reminded the man.

"We're being surrounded by Cobol lackeys. We have a car not far," Arthur further explained from the hall. Ariadne noticed Cobb going through his pockets now. Soon the extractor found his totem and he leaned unsteadily towards the night table to spin the toy. Ariadne reached into her pocket for her own totem feeling it's shape and weight. She wasn't dreaming.

"Is anyone hurt?" Ariadne asked worriedly as she stood and began to ease Cobb towards the edge of the bed, as he put his totem back into his pocket, having confirmed that he was no longer dreaming.

Then, as if in response to Ariadne's question there came a half grunt, half shout of pain from below them and the sound of a gun clattering to the ground.

"Eames?" Arthur called, worry in his voice.

"I'm fine, bullet just skimmed my hand," the forger shouted through gritted teeth.

"Think you can walk?" Ariadne asked Cobb.

"I'll have to," he grunted as he tried to stand. Ariadne helped support him as much as she could.

"I think we're clear back here!" Yusuf called up towards Arthur, he was still positioned at the back of the house, just below the window Arthur had been shooting from.

"I agree," Arthur called down to Yusuf. "Let's go," the point man declared now addressing Ariadne and Cobb. Ariadne nodded and leaned towards the night table to retrieve her own gun from where she had left it and handed it to Cobb.

"Even in your condition I think this will be of more use in your hands than mine," the girl explained. Cobb nodded as they headed down the stairs after Arthur. Ariadne gave Cobb a relieved smile as the man tried to put his weight on the railing lining the stair case so as not to tire Ariadne out before they even got out of the house.

Once down the creaky wooden stairs Ariadne could see both Arthur and Eames exchanging shots with some Cobol lackeys who were hiding in the brush surrounding the front of the place. Yusuf limped around the corner of the house and helped as well. Obviously that knife he had taken to his thigh earlier had done some damage.

From her position inside the house Ariadne could see Eames and Arthur exchange a look and then watched as the pair nodded in understanding. Suddenly, each man began running towards their attackers, each taking a different direction in an attempt to rush their last two targets. Yusuf knelt on the ground and fired some shots to try and aid the two men and within seconds their final two assailants were dead.

"Let's go," Ariadne instructed trudging forward with Cobb. Arthur hurried back to offer Cobb his shoulder to lean on as well, while Eames covered their retreat from the front and Yusuf kept his eyes open for anyone approaching from behind.

* * *

><p>It seemed to take them forever to get back to their vehicle, but soon it was in sight and appeared to be unharmed.<p>

"Thank God," Ariadne gasped as she leaned against the car, her body trembling from the effort she had exhausted trying to drag Cobb through the outdoor terrain, albeit she had had help form Arthur.

However, there was no time for Ariadne to catch her breath, as they needed to get out of the area and quickly. Ariadne and Arthur hurriedly tried to ease Cobb into the front seat of the car, while Eames hopped in the driver's seat. Yusuf limped his way over to one of the back car doors and then got inside. After securing Cobb, Ariadne and Arthur clambered into the backseats as well and Eames sped off.

Yusuf was absently rubbing his shoulder now, an action that did not go unnoticed by Ariadne. The fabric covering the wound was completely soaked with blood. She noted that his thigh was bloody too, where he had been stabbed.

"You going to be okay?" Ariadne asked worriedly.

"Yes, the bullets both passed right through my shoulder," the chemist replied. "It just hurts."

"I can't believe we made it," Ariadne shook her head in disbelief as she sunk down in her seat; she was squished between Arthur and Yusuf.

"Spoke too soon!" Eames informed her.

"What?" Ariadne asked, as both Arthur and Yusuf twisted in their seats to look out the back window. Suddenly a bullet whizzed through the rear window just missing Arthur. Ariadne screamed, she couldn't help herself, and sunk lower in her seat covering her head. She knew it was childish, but it was her first reaction.

"Damn it!" Arthur swore as he retrieved his gun and rolled his window down. Arthur leaned out and fired a few shots, but it was anyone's guess if they did any good.

"Eames, pickup the pace!" Arthur snapped as he pulled himself back into the car.

"I'm doing the best I can! This is a shitty road, in case you hadn't noticed!" And as if in response the car bounced wildly as it hit another bump on the poorly paved road. Ariadne could hear their pursuers firing a few more shots at them, but none of them hit the car this time.

"If we can just make it to the interstate again we'll have a chance of losing them," Eames muttered. Arthur fired a few more shots, which could be heard embedding themselves in the car behind them. Yusuf rolled his window down now too and took aim at their enemies.

"I think I hit their driver," Yusuf cried excitedly.

"The car is certainly swerving, anyway," Eames stated as his eyes flicked to the rear-view mirror. Ariadne turned in her seat, getting to her knees, and peeking over the top of the seat. The car behind them swerved a few more times, before finally regaining control and once again gaining on them.

"Guess, he wasn't injured too badly," Arthur muttered as he too noticed the car righting itself. Ariadne glanced at Yusuf noting that he was once again clutching his shoulder. However, Ariadne then became aware of the fact that Cobb was rolling his own window down.

"Cobb, what are you doing? Just sit down!" Ariadne cried as she leaned forward to pull Cobb back towards his seat. However, even in his weakened state the man easily pulled out of Ariadne's grip and leaned out his window. Both he and Arthur now took shots at the car tailing them.

"Yes!" Arthur hissed in excitement.

"What?" Ariadne asked turning to peek out the back window again.

"I do believe Cobb, shot out one of their tires," Eames informed her, his eyes glancing in the rear-view mirror again. Ariadne watched as the car swerved drastically now. It then looked as though it hit a large bump of some kind on the road and the car literally lifted off the ground before turning and rolling into the ditch. Ariadne slumped back down in her seat tears of relief stinging at her eyes.

"We should have no problem losing them now," Eames said as they left their pursuers in the dust.

Soon enough a tense quietness filled the car. Now that they were no longer in immediate danger, Ariadne felt the full extent of her exhaustiveness. The architect slumped in her seat. The hum of the car began to lull her into a state of relaxation and soon she was struggling to keep her eyes open. Before long Ariadne felt an arm wrapping itself around her shoulders and she felt herself being pulled towards Arthur's chest. The girl breathed in his scent deeply before finally drifting off to sleep.

* * *

><p>"Ariadne, wake up." The architect moaned as she slowly opened her eyes. Arthur was gently shaking her.<p>

"Where are we?" she asked.

"Las Vegas airport," he said as he helped her out of the car, which she noted was a different vehicle than the one they had escaped from the farmhouse in. However, she couldn't remember switching vehicles.

"Are we safe?" she mumbled as she allowed him to lead her inside the building.

"We weren't followed if that's what you're worried about."

"I'll go see about getting us on the next flight out of here," Eames said to the group as they stationed themselves on the periphery of the crowds.

"When did you guys clean up and when did we ditch the other car?" Ariadne asked, noticing that everyone looked cleaner than they had earlier. Yusuf had changed out of his bloodstained clothes and his wounds had obviously been bandaged, as his new clothes were not stained with new blood.

"We stopped at a gas station along the way and ditched the rental. Eames managed to acquire us a new car and we didn't have the heart to wake you. Plus, you weren't all bloody looking so we thought we'd let you sleep instead of waking you to change," Arthur explained.

Ariadne rubbed her eyes. "I can't believe I slept through all that. I'm usually not that deep of a sleeper." Arthur just grinned and shrugged his shoulders.

"What time is it?" she asked as she re-fixed her ponytail, trying to smooth the hairs that had escaped the elastic.

"Nearly 1:30 in the afternoon," Arthur replied.

"God, no wonder I feel like shit," she murmured.

"If anyone feels like shit here, it's me," Cobb finally spoke up.

"I guess you can win this round," Ariadne relented giving the man an apologetic smile. Of course he felt awful, he was one of the most skilled extractors in the world, if not THE most skilled extractor, and he had allowed himself to be fooled by a dream. He had allowed himself to be kept from his children for these past few months. Ariadne could only imagine what kind of pain, guilt, and anger he was dealing with.

At that moment Eames returned to his friends. "I had to lay on the charm, but I managed to get us all seats on a plane departing for New York City in 45 minutes, we better head to security."

Everyone nodded and did as instructed. Once again the guys had no trouble getting their bags full of weapons through security, and even Ariadne managed to avoid being frisked.

**Note: Well, like I already said next chapter we wrap everything up. However, there will be a short sequel. I also have a one-shot idea floating around in my head so perhaps one of these days I will actually write it. Also, please review you don't have too many more chances to do that for this story!**


	20. Chapter 20: Confessions

**Extraction**

**Chapter 20: Confessions**

**Note: I do not own Inception. **

Ariadne sighed as she finished brushing her wet hair. It felt so good to be clean and she couldn't wait to get a decent rest too. However, before she went to bed she wanted to check in with Cobb. So, Ariadne grabbed her hotel room key card and shoved it into the pocket of her jeans before she headed across the hall to Cobb's room.

She gave two quick knocks and waited. Cobb answered a few seconds later. He had a towel around his neck and wore a pair of baggy black sweat pants that said "New York" down the right pant leg.

"Been to the gift shop across the way I see," Ariadne said indicating his pants.

"Yeah, figured I'd worn my other clothes long enough. I, uh also have an I heart N.Y. t-shirt to go with the pants," he said sheepishly.

"Well you'll be styling then for sure," she joked.

"Come in," Cobb finally said stepping aside to allow Ariadne to enter his room.

"Sorry, I don't mean to interrupt. I just wanted to make sure you were okay," the girl explained.

"No, it's all right. I wanted to talk to you anyway." Cobb sighed as he ran a hand through his semi-dry hair.

Ariadne pulled a wooden chair out from a table in the corner of the room and took a seat, waiting for Cobb to work up the courage to say what he wanted. Finally, after pacing the room for a few seconds, Cobb came and sat on the edge of his bed across from her.

"I wanted to thank you for pulling me out of that dream."

"You would have done the same for me, or any of us for that matter," Ariadne replied modestly.

"Still, thank you," he replied as he scooped her hands into his and gave them a squeeze. Ariadne blushed and dropped her gaze to the floor, so Cobb released her hands a smirk pulling at the corner of his mouth.

"I'm sure it must be difficult for you coming back. I mean, it's the second time you've lived a lifetime," the girl finally said as she re-trained her gaze on the man before her.

"Yeah, obviously that's left me with a whole new set of emotional issues I'm going to have to work through." The man rolled his eyes now.

"Have you spoken to your kids yet? For real I mean?" Ariadne asked.

"No," Cobb snapped quickly.

His expression softened. "No, I was afraid to contact them. I don't know how much Cobol knows. So, I got in touch with Miles and he's going to make sure his wife and the kids get on the next flight to Paris. I'm actually going to be leaving for the airport again in a few hours myself to meet them there."

"Oh. Well I'm glad! I wish you the best of luck," Ariadne said sincerely.

"I don't know what we're going to do after we meet up, but we'll see I guess. I'm just trying to take things slowly."

"Of course." Ariadne paused briefly before continuing. "Cobb, why do you think Cobol abducted you and then put you in a dream? I mean, back when we were working the inception job didn't the Cobol agents in Mombasa try to kill you?"

Cobb nodded his head. "I've been thinking about that too. I'm not sure they were so much trying to kill me in Mombasa, as they were just trying to slow me down and capture me. I suspect Cobol wanted to abduct me in order to pay for the failed Saito job. I'm guessing they felt I was more valuable to them alive than dead, perhaps they felt they could use my skills in the future."

"But why keep you immobilized in a dream? Why not just keep you locked up? It seems like a lot of work," Ariadne mused.

"I can only assume it was a kind of pay back, a way to torture me without actually physically harming me. I mean, while in the dream everything is fine, but it's when you come back to reality that you feel the full extent of what's been done to you. I'm still so angry with myself. I should have been able to sense something was wrong. I don't know why I ignored my totem!"

"Cobb, I think it's perfectly understandable! You'd just finished performing inception and working through some serious mental and emotional issues over your late wife. You couldn't handle dealing with any more at the time. I'm sure eventually you would have found your way back on your own. You love your kids too much; I know those projections wouldn't have been enough for you forever!"

"I'm glad _you_ have so much faith in me," Cobb sighed and ran a hand through his messy hair.

Ariadne stood to leave. "Well I won't keep you. I'm sure you'll want to get a little rest before you have to leave again."

"What will you do now? Arthur tells me you've taken a leave of absence from school?" Cobb asked before Ariadne could get too far towards the exit.

"I don't know." The girl stopped now and turned to face Cobb again. "When I left Paris to come find you my parents were visiting. They were suspicious about where I was going and about the 'work placement' I took with you a few months ago. I guess I'll probably give them a call. Find out where they are. See if they are still in Paris, or at home now."

"Good. You should try and smooth things over," Cobb agreed. Ariadne nodded and headed for the door again. However, before leaving she paused and then turned back to face Cobb who still sat on the edge of his bed.

"Keep in touch, okay?"

"I will," he agreed, nodding. Ariadne smiled and then opened the door, and nearly bumped into Yusuf in the process.

"Sorry," they said in unison, both obviously surprised.

"I was just coming to say good bye to Cobb," Yusuf explained.

"Where are you going?" Ariadne asked.

"I just got a call from an associate of mine. He has a job opportunity for me in South America."

Ariadne nodded, "Good luck. Oh, and what about your wounds?"

"I patched them up myself no problem," he explained. Ariadne gave the man a sceptical look, but he just grinned. "Anyway, good luck to you too," he said as he entered Cobb's room and she continued exiting. Ariadne removed her room key from her pocket, but paused half way to her door. She glanced at the door just down the hall on the right - Arthur's room.

Finally, she re-pocketed her room key and went to knock on the young man's door. She paused just outside the door and tried to work up the nerve to knock.

_What's my reason for stopping by?_ she wondered to herself. _Hey Arthur, I just wanted to check in, make sure things were okay?_ The girl shook her head wondering if that would sound too lame.

"Are you going to knock, or shall I do it for you?"

Ariadne jumped and nearly threw her neck out as she snapped it side ways in surprise, to look at who had addressed her.

Eames chuckled. "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you."

"Where are you going?" Ariadne finally asked as she took in the forger's rather dapper appearance.

"Out. Figure I may as well enjoy a night out in the Big Apple. I fly out to London tomorrow," he informed her.

"Oh, well good luck," Ariadne said.

"You too, don't be a stranger!" Ariadne nodded and watched as the forger began to head towards the elevator.

"You'll regret not knocking. I can guarantee it!" Eames called before he rounded the corner and was out of Ariadne's sight.

"Right." She sighed. The girl then turned back to the door and quickly gave three sharp knocks before she lost her nerve. There was a long pause. Ariadne was about to head back to her room in defeat when the door was finally thrown open. Arthur looked a little dishevelled with wet hair dripping into his eyes, and a towel wrapped loosely around his hips.

"Sorry, I was just in the shower. Come in," he invited.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to intrude," she apologized as she stepped into the room, trying to keep her gaze on Arthur's face and not on other less clothed parts of him.

"Not at all," he said as he turned his body away from the girl to re-tie the towel around his waist tighter. Ariadne took a seat in a wooden chair like she had in Cobb's room.

"Can I get you anything?" he asked.

"No thanks," Ariadne replied politely. Her response was followed by a long silence. Arthur wiped some droplets of water from his face with his hand as he finally took a seat in the wooden chair opposite Ariadne.

"So, Cobb's leaving for Paris in a few hours," Arthur finally offered in the way of conversation.

"Yeah, I just came from seeing him actually. I guess Yusuf has a job opportunity in South America and Eames is leaving for London tomorrow."

"Yusuf's going to South America? Really? Well good for him." Ariadne nodded in agreement. "Oh, and sorry about the forehead," Arthur apologized quickly. Ariadne's hand flew to her bruised forehead in response; it had already begun turning an interesting shade of purple.

"It's okay. If it wasn't for you bashing my stupid head into those stairs I might have gotten a bullet in my brain instead!"

There was a slight awkward pause before Arthur finally spoke again. "What do you plan to do now?"

"Are we still in danger from Cobol?" Ariadne finally blurted instead, asking the question that been nagging at her since they had landed in New York City.

"I don't think so. We killed anyone at that farmhouse who got a good look at our faces and I don't think Leeson is going to tell Cobol anything, even if he does think he's had an extraction done on him. I mean, he probably assumes Cobol will kill him if they ever find out he gave us Cobb's location."

"But it's not like he had much of a choice. I mean we did use extraction on him," Ariadne pointed out.

"They won't care."

Ariadne nodded and finally answered Arthur's earlier question. "I guess I plan to contact my parents. See where they are at, and then explain things to them"

"Tell them the truth you mean?" Arthur asked.

"I think so. I can't lie to them anymore. They really have been so supportive and I doubt they'll be thrilled with what I have to tell them, but they certainly won't hand me over to the police," Ariadne explained.

"Good, honesty is always best between the people you care about."

Ariadne's eyes widened at Arthur's words. She then dropped her gaze to her hands, which she was clutching tightly in her lap. Arthur gave the girl a confused look, unsure of what he had done to elicit this sort of reaction from her.

"Can I be honest with you then?" Ariadne finally asked.

"Sure," Arthur agreed as he leaned forward in his chair intently.

"So," she fiddled with her fingers again, her gaze going to her lap. Arthur waited patiently while the girl composed her thoughts.

"In case you didn't already know, I like you Arthur and I don't know if I LIKE like you. I don't know if I'm looking for a serious relationship, or if it would even work out between us, but what I do know is that if I let you go for a second time without telling you how I feel then I'd regret it."

The architect's confession was met with silence, which made her even more uncomfortable. Furthermore, Arthur's face was completely unreadable, at least to her. Finally, she jumped up out of her chair. "So, I'll just go then, cause that was all I wanted."

However, before she could move Arthur was out of his chair and blocking her way to the exit. "Well, if we're being honest with each other then I have some things I want to say to you."

Arthur took a step towards Ariadne who backed up the short distance to her chair and sat back down in it, feeling light-headed as she took in Arthur's words. Arthur quickly closed the short distance between them until he was right in front of the girl. He then squatted down in front of her and took both her hands in his, pulling them close to his chest.

"Now in case you didn't already know, I like you Ariadne, and I _do_ know that I LIKE like you. I also know that I am looking to explore the possibility of a serious relationship with you, and I don't know if it will work out between us, but what I do know is that I have regretted not telling you how I felt everyday since we parted ways in LA."

Ariadne sat motionless too shocked to respond, the light-heated feeling seemed to only grow worse. For a moment she wondered if she were dreaming, because this very scene was one she had played out in her day dreams dozens of times since she had parted ways with Arthur after the Fischer job months ago. Then she began to vaguely wonder if the light-headed feeling wasn't some sort of side effect of her head having been smashed into a wooden floor earlier.

"This is probably about the time you should just throw your arms around my neck and kiss me," Arthur finally offered, breaking through Ariadne's foggy thoughts.

The girl laughed now and did just as he suggested. After a few more short kisses Arthur stood and pulled Ariadne to her feet. He then reached for the hem of her shirt and pulled her t-shirt up over her stomach. Ariadne soon lifted her arms to help him completely remove the article of clothing from her body.

Arthur pulled the girl to him again kissing her hungrily as he slowly led her forward to the bed. The point man then placed several feather-light kisses on her lips as he lifted her onto the mattress. Then, Arthur loosened the towel from around his waist and allowed it to fall to the floor, before he finally lifted himself onto the bed and positioned himself over Ariadne, his lips never leaving hers. Finally, Arthur trailed a few kisses down her chest as he reached for the button on her jeans.

"Arthur," Ariadne whispered breathlessly reaching for his hands.

"I have protection," he whispered softly in response. After a moment Ariadne released Arthur's hands in consent.

* * *

><p>"You expect us to believe that you built dream worlds for this man, Dominic Cobb? A-a-and that you implanted the idea into Robert Fischer's mind to break up his father's company?" Ariadne's father snapped in disbelief. Ariadne nodded her head sincerely.<p>

"Sweetie, you understand this all sounds a little far-fetched don't you? I mean invading people's subconscious through their dreams, and then extracting information from them. It's just not possible," the girl's mother explained softly.

"Well I have a question for you, sir, if I may?" Arthur asked turning his attention to Ariadne's father now. The man nodded his permission has he squeezed the bridge of his nose trying to ward off a headache.

"You never really remember the beginning of a dream, do you? You always wind up right in the middle of what's going on."

"I guess, yeah," the man agreed shaking his head in annoyance.

"Then I have one more question for you, sir. How did we end up here?" Arthur asked.

The question took the older man aback. He blinked for a moment and then shook his head. "This is ridiculous, we just came from the uh . . ." he paused as he tried to recall how they had all gotten to the park they were now sitting in.

"Think about it, Dad. How did we all get here? Where are we right now?" Ariadne pressed. There was a long pause.

"Are we dreaming?" Ariadne's mother finally asked quietly.

**Cue Epic Music**

**THE END**

**Note: I hope you all enjoyed this story. I really enjoyed writing it and hearing from everyone! Check out the first chapter to the sequel, which will be up later today (hopefully).**

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**Thanks for reading!**


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